News Page

Unsorted Material From 1999:

In The News Dec. 21 - 25, 1999

Omicron Demonstrates Satellite Mobile E-Commerce System

Dec. 23, 1999, BCE Emergis reports that Omicron Technology claims to have demonstrated practical satellite based e-commerce and information services for vehicles using GPS to locate a vehicle, sending a call back to a monitoring station and replying via AM/FM radio frequency.

http://www.omicrontechnologies.com/
http://www.radiosat.com/
[1999/12/28]

Geoworks Joins Radicchio

Dec. 22, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Geoworks Corporation has announced that it has joined "Radicchio" which is "a global initiative to unleash the power of wireless e-commerce" based on a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for secure transactions.
[1999/12/28]

Palm Revenues Up 77%

Dec. 21, 1999, Scott Hillis writes for Reuters regarding 3Com's Q2 financial report, that Palm has sold a total of more than 5 million units [presumably since the first commercial sales of Palm Pilots], and currently, revenues for the Palm division, rose 77 percent from a year earlier to $260.9 million [US]. [The article is not clear whether this revenue in the quarter or for the half year.]
[1999/12/28]

In The News Dec. 18 - 21, 1999

Inukshuk Internet Begins Testing Cisco MCS Technology

Dec. 21, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Inukshuk Internet Inc. have begun technical trials of Cisco Systems Canada's Multipoint Communications Systems (MCS) for delivery of high speed internet via wireless in the 2500 MHz band using Cisco's Vector Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (VOFDM) air interface. Other companies involved as partners in this test are Look Communications Inc. and Microcell Telecommunications Inc.

http://www.inukshuk.ca/

http://wwwlook.ca/

http://www.cisco.com/ca/
[1999/12/26]

CTI Mobile Roaming In Canada

Dec. 18, 1999, PR Newswire reports that City Telecom (H.K.) Ltd. has announced CTI Mobile Roaming Service and International Call Forwarding Service based on a "pre-paid SIM" card which can inserted in a cutomer's handset to have wireless services in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Singapore and the USA. Where necessary, rental handsets are also available. CTI intends to ". . . slash the mobile roaming charges . . ."

http://www.ctihk.com/>
[1999/12/26]

My Latest Mac: Performa 6360 -- Not Mobile, But Significant

The events surrounding my upgrading from my Mac LC630 to my latest Macintosh Performa 6360, coming only partly coincidentally with the coming of the year 2000, gave me a lot of reasons to think about the industry in general, and in particular about the current interest in Linux.

Actually, this year has shown the strongest practical arguments for "Open Source" software -- both system and application, that we could expect to see.

In general, the effect of the Y2K problem is that some old software is at the least irritating, because if you prefer to show dates in a particular way, you may not have that option. In purely esthetic terms I don't want to use programs that output the date with an "00" year. I'd rather show "2000". That's completely aside from the practical problem that some programs that use dates in calculations may give erroneous results. But if I don't have the source code, and the company is no longer supporting that program, I can't fix it.

[I haven't had time to confirm it, but my understanding is that ISO has defined a standard date format "YYYY-MM-DD". An example would be showing "Dec. 31, 2000" as "2000-12-31" Personally, I've been using "2000/12/31" as my preferred format for years.]

In the case of Quadra (68K) Macs, Y2K wasn't supposed to be an issue because the Mac date system was based on a different counting system, and for the most part it hasn't been. But over the last year, what has become an issue is the lack of support for Quadra Macs by Apple, and 3rd party program providers. The effect has been to force me to upgrade, despite the fact that my Quadra technology Mac LC630 had sufficient processor power for my needs. Within the last year, very ironically Palm Computing stopped providing upgrades for the Palm emulator for 68K Macs -- because they didn't know of any developers still using 68K Macs. Well, maybe there weren't any developers, but I'm a writer covering Palm, and I was using the Palm emulator. The latest version of a Palm program I was going to write about (Image Viewer III) wouldn't run on the last version of the Palm emulator for 68K Macs, so I was stuck. The irony is that the Palm devices are actually using 68K processors.

My Own "1999" Problem: Mac LC630

What finally killed the LC630 for my purposes was that Adobe Type Manager (ATM) stopped working for no apparently reason about a week ago. This may actually be some kinds of "Y2K-like" problem. Again, if I had time and source code, I might be able to fix the problem, but without the source code, and with the attitude of Adobe (they don't even provide a way of reporting bugs on their website), I decided that it's not worth my considering any kind of software patching on my own. As such I finally bought a "refurbished" Mac LC6360.

Now consider that on a contemporary 486/DX2-4 (66 - 100 MHz) box with at least 32MB RAM, one can run the latest version of Linux for free. Extrapolate the current business practices backwards to when the LC630 came out. I could have upgraded that 486 box over all the years, to today's latest system software, for free.

Compare that to Windows and MacOS over the last couple of years -- even aside from the complete abandonment of 68K Macs.

In 486 terms, that would have been like moving from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, to "later" Windows 95, to Windows 98, to Windows NT, and next year to Windows 2000, but for free. In Mac terms that would have been like moving from MacOS 7.0, to 7.5, to 8.0, to 9.0 to "X" -- all for free. And then as a last resort, if there's something that some company abandons that I need to fix, I could still fix some things myself.

Moreover, the current position of Apple is that the next major OS upgrade, which is not very far off, (currently called "MacOS X") won't even run on pre-G3 PowerPC based Macs.

There's more I could say about this, particularly that current Linux, especially on a x86 is pretty good already, and still rapidly improving. But at bottom, if one has been a heavy computer users over the last couple of years, in either the Mac or Windows worlds, we have had ample opportunity to see advantages of Open Source software.

[The original version of the above was a reply to a Usenet news posting. It occurred to me that what I wrote was something I'd been thinking about for some time, and which has a pervasive impact on the computer industry. I make no predictions about "Linux burying Microsoft in X years," but as I wrote, it is clear that the events of this year have made the strongest case one can imagine for Open Source software.]

[1999/12/26]

In The News Dec. 14 - 18, 1999

Mercedes-Benz Integrates Motorola Phone With Car

Dec. 17, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Mercedes-Benz model year 2000 cars can now include a Motorola StarDAC phone, integrated with the car's electronics. The car's display will display the phone's information, and voice recognition can be used to control some of the car's functions.
[1999/12/21]

MTT Mobility Announces Digital Service in Pictou County

Dec. 17, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that MTT Mobility has announced that digital PCS service is now available in Pictou County, providing continuous coverage including Truro and Metro Halifax. MTT is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aliant Inc.

http://www.mtt.ca/
http://www.aliant.ca/
[1999/12/21]

In The News Dec. 11 - 14, 1999

Palm Spinoff Comes Amid Changing Landscape For Handhelds

Dec. 14, 1999, Reuters and Associate Press in separate articles report that that 3Com Corp. has officially filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosing that AOL and Motorola will each take as much as 1.5% of the shares, and that Nokia is expected to also buy a portion of unknown size. Reuters points out that Ericsson is also now working with Microsoft Corp. and that Motorola has said it will work with both Symbian and Palm Computing to provide wireless information products, and particularly will license PalmsOS for use in Motorola products.

[It appears that all 3 major cell phone makers, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia might be stepping back a bit from their previous position to unite on Symbian's EPOC OS. I have no current information about any particular reasons for this, aside from the obvious attraction of working with the clear leader in the industry.]
[1999/12/18]

ITU Moves Towards Global Roaming

Dec. 14, 1999, Communications Today reports that on Dec. 13, 1999, the International Telecommunications Union's Study Group 11 agreed on six network-related standards which will be part of the IMT-2000 3rd generation specification. The areas affected include signaling, security, functional modeling and compatibility with the Network to Network Interface protocol, forming an important step towards roaming compatibility during the transition from 2nd generation to 3rd generation systems.
[1999/12/18]

Dell Revamps Light End Laptops

Dec. 13, 1999, Business Wire reports that Dell Computer Corporation has announced a new "ultralight" laptop computer called the Dell(R) Latitude(R) LS, and a higer performance version of its "lightweight" Dell Latitude CSx. Both use Intel Mobile Pentium(R) III processors.

The Latitude LS uses a 1" thick magnesium alloy chassis to achieve a weight of 3.5 lbs. including a 4-cell battery.

http://www.dell.com/products/notebook/latitude/index.htm
[1999/12/18]

US Patent 6,000,000 Awarded to Palm Computing For HotSync(R)

Dec. 13, 1999, Business Wire reports that the US Commerce Department awarded Patent No. 6,000,000 to 3Com Corporation for its "Extendable Method for Synchronizing Multiple Files on Two Different Computer Systems" (the HotSynch(R) system) by Jeff Hawkins and Michael Albanese.

US Patent and Trademark Office http://www.uspto.gov/
[1999/12/18]

In The News Dec. 7 - 11, 1999

Unique Broadband Systems To Develop Real Time Linux

Dec. 10, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Unique Broadband Systems, Inc. (UBS) has announced that it has commenced the development of "RealLinux(TM) which a real-time OS based on Linux. According to UBS, their source code will be open to the public and the first application will be based on the Motorola 68360 CPU.
[1999/12/14]

Rogers Cantel Announces New Services in Pairies

Dec. 9, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Rogers Cantel INc. has announced that it has begun Digital PCS service in Steinbach, Manitoba. In a separate announcement, Rogers Cantel Inc. announced "Pay As You Go" service has begun in Brandon, Manitoba. In another separate announcement, Rogers Cantel Inc. also announced "Pay As You Go" service has commenced in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
[1999/12/14]

IBM Brings ViaVoice To PowerMacs

Dec. 8, 1999, (Business Wire reports that IBM has announced the availability of ViaVoice Millenium Edition 1.0 for Macintosh. IBM claims this is the first continuous speech recognition software for the Apple Macintosh platform. The minimum system is MacOS 8.5.1 (or 8.6 or 9.0), a 233MHz PowerPC CPU, 48MB RAM, 200MB HD space, a CD-ROM and an audio input jack compatible with Andrea NC-71 microphones. Specifically mentioned as compatible are the iMac, PowerMac G3 and G4 and PowerBook G3. The software will be available this week in the US and Canada priced at $89.95 US.

http://www.ibm.com/software/speech/
[1999/12/14]

IBM And Nokia Push WAP Development

Dec. 8, 1999, Business Wire reports that IBM has announced a "comprehensive support program for independent software vendors (ISVs) and corporate developers to help them create new applications for wireless devices. The program features a software took kit and a new testing facility, as well as a direct link to Nokia for developers that want to use Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) to extend Web and enterprise data to next generation WAP phones. Nokia will support the center, providing technical assistance and WAP devices for application development and testing. . . ."

"Unlike PC applications that can be tested with the same equipment they are created on, pervasive computing applications are more involved. They require developers to port and test applications on multiple devices in a variety of scenarios, which can be expensive and complex. The pervasive computing testing facility offers a number of testing environments, which could help reduce developers' expenses and time - to - market."
[1999/12/14]

TFT Shortage First Half Y2k

Dec. 8, 1999, Robert Ristelhueber writes for EE Times that TFT LCD's are likely to remain in short supply for the first half of next year, easing in the second half of the year.
[1999/12/14]

In The News Dec. 4 - 7, 1999

HP And Socket To Bring Bluetooth To Windows CE

Dec. 7, 1999, Business Wire reports that Hewlett-Packard Company and Socket Communications Inc. have announced that they are working together to develop Bluetooth single and multifunctional CompactFlash CF+ cards for HP's Jornada handheld computers.

Socket Communcations Inc. http://www.socketcom.com/
[1999/12/11]

Sun Ends Java Standards Drive

Dec. 7, 1999, Reuters reports that Sun Microsystems Inc. has withdrawn its submission to have ECMA adopt Java as a formal standard. It had previously withdrawn its similar submission to ISO.
[1999/12/11]

W95.Babylonia Chatroom Virus

Dec. 7, 1999, Associated Press reports that the W95.Babylonia virus can be spread through use of Chat rooms as well as EMail. It appears as a Y2K fix but allows the virus writer to control the infected machine. It is potentially very dangerous. Its primary vector is autodownloading in MIRC chat software.
[1999/12/11]

AMD Announces K6-2E Embedded Processor

Dec. 6, 1999, Business Wire reports that AMD has announced its new AMD-K6-2E embedded processor in standard and low-power consumption versions. The low power version runs with a 1.9V core voltage consuming less than 10 watts, and is cabable of extended temperature range usage to 85 degrees C. Available immediately, the low power versions in quantities of 1,000 are priced at $69 US for the 333 MHz AMD-K6-2E/333AMZ processor and $66 US for the 300 MHz AMD-K6-2E/300AMZ. Normal power version are $61 US at 350 MHz (AMD-K6-2E/350AFR) and $59 US for at 333 MHz (AMD-K6-2E/333AFR).
[1999/12/11]

HP OmniBook 9000 With WAN

Dec. 6, 1999, Business Wire reports that Hewlett-Packard Company has announced that its latest OmniBook 900 laptop computer will feature the Intel(R) Mobile Pentium(R) III 500Mhz and a wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) bundle. The package is immediately available with prices starting at $3,500 US.
[1999/12/11]

Motorola And Lucent Demonstrate StarCore SC140 DSP

Dec. 6, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Lucent Technologies and Motorola have announced the availability of their StarCore SC140 DSP core and have demonstrated its viability by producing an "initial silicon" implimentation.

http://www.starcore-dsp.com/
[1999/12/11]

Y2K Viruses

Dec. 4, 1999, Associated Press reports that there are a number of Y2K related viruses which may cause problems early in the new year. [Rather than try to track them on this page, I'll recommend that you check the CERT, McAfee and Symantec websites.]

Some Websites: I do not endorse any of these sites. Only the Carnegie Mellon site is not commercial.

Central Command Inc.
Carnegie Mellon's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT -- computer virus tracking) http://www.cert.org/
Symantec Anti-Virus Center
Trend Micro Inc. http://www.antivirus.com/
[I'm not sure about "McAfee.com". It might be as simple as "http://www.mcafee.com/", but I haven't tried it.]
[1999/12/07] revised [1999/12/11]

Finally V.90. . . .

It may come as a surprise that I have only briefly used a 56Kbps modem. I bought a Cardinal X2 modem and used it for a few weeks before trying to upgrade it to V.90. When the upgrade failed to work I decided to buy another modem. Expecting that the Cardinal would work eventually, I only bought a GVC 33.6Kbps modem to get me through the wait. But then Cardinal (Hayes) went bankrupt and no working upgrade was ever posted on their website. Since 56Kbps modems really aren't that much faster than 33.6's anyway, I never bothered to buy another modem.

This past week, Pathway Communications decided to upgrade its modem pool and unfortunately, an anomaly resulted. While the GVC 33.6 worked with my Windows 95 laptop, for some reason, the settings used by the Mac caused it to fail by not detecting the proper carrier. I tried upgrading the latest Mac driver, but that didn't help. Eventually, I might have been able to figure out a driver fix, but I decided that it was about time to try a V.90 again. Luckily, I still had my GVC 28.8 modem and GVC has an upgrade deal. I upgraded to their latest external Mac version 56K V.90 speakerphone/voice/ FAX/Modem. While I had a problem with the software installation on the Mac (which reported a bad floppy), and there is no manual or documentation (since the documentation is usually included on the CD-ROM for the Windows version), the main Modem functions are working properly and I am now enjoying full V.90 data connections. The only problem I have on the Mac is that the Speakerphone support isn't working.

I did test out the modem on the Windows 95 laptop, and everything, including the speaker phone does seem to work, though not entirely without flaw. The sound through my headset is not loud enough. Also, I haven't tested the FAX facility on any computer, in any direction. But it's been nice having the speed increase, and it's particularly nice that its working on both my main computers. Hopefully, it'll work on all my various permutations, but at the least, I have my main connections reasonably debugged. Expect to hear more of this in the future, particularly when I test connections for handheld devices to the Internet.
[1999/12/11]

In The News Nov. 30 - Dec. 4, 1999

Carl Yankowski From Sony, New Palm Computing CEO

Dec. 2, 1999, Business Wire reports that 3Com Corporation has announced that Carl Yankowski, formerly President and COO of Sony Electronics, Inc. and President and CEO of Reebok Brand will be CEO and a Director of Palm Computing, Inc. on Dec. 13, 1999. Mr. Yankowski was a systems analyst and electrical engineer with both business and BSEE degrees from MIT.

[I don't usually mention moves like this, but it may be indicative of the future role of Sony in Palm Computing's business plans.]
[1999/12/07]

Telus Files To Rebalance 911 Charges

Dec. 2, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Telus has applied to the CRTC to change 911 service charges in Alberta. Wireline services will be reduced from 19 cents down to 16 cents per month while wireless services will be charged 8 cents per month per working phone number. The net effect is intended to eliminate any gain from the new charge for wireless service which were required by a recent decision of the CRTC.
[1999/12/07]

Khyber Sues For Patent Infringement By Handheld Computers

Dec. 2, 1999, Reuters reports that Khyber Technologies Corp. has claimed to have filed suit against Hewlett-Packard Co., Everex Systems, Inc., Casio Computer Co. Ltd., Uniden Corp. and Philips Electronics for infringement of a 1997 patent covering "pocket-sized organizers having the ability to store and retrieve audio messages and messages entered through handwriting on the screen of the device. . . . The Patent also covers such pocket-sized devices with a homebase station for transmitting and receiving messages to and from the device." Khyber is developing its own product called the Pocket Partner which is designed to serve as a wireless phone, organizer and Internet appliance.
[1999/12/07]

Cisco Tackles Ghosts?

Dec. 1, 1999, Associated Press reports that Cisco Systems claims to have a "new approach" to high-speed, low-cost Internet by harnessing and redirecting voice and data microwave signals that bounce off obstructions in large cities through "multichannel multipoint distribution services (MMDS). [Caution! I'm not convinced that the writer understood whatever it was that Cisco actually announced.]
[1999/12/07]

Motorola Uses New Transistor Material

Dec. 1, 1999, Business Wire reports that Motorola has announced that it has developed a new technology technology based on superior materials caled Perovskites (a class of crystalline oxide materials) to replace silicon dioxide, allowing for thinner gates.
[1999/12/07]

Geoworks Joins Wireless Data Forum

Dec. 1, 1999, PR Newswire reports that the Wireless Data Forum has announced that Geoworks Corporation has become its newest member. The Wireless Data Forum refers to itself as "an independent, technology-neutral trade group dedicated to promoting the wireless data industry."

Wireless Data Forum http://www.wirelessdata.org/
[1999/12/07]

Intel Pentium III Boot Bug

Dec. 1, 1999, Reuters reports that Intel Corp. announced on Wednesday that it has found a bug in some current Pentium III chips that causes a problem booting a computer. According to Intel spokesman Michael Sullivan "If a system is powered all the way down, and someone turns it on, it may not boot until you turn it on again." Intel estimates that the problem may affect 1 - 2% of the "Coppermine" chips manufactured to date, and that the problem will be eliminated in "the next manufacturing cycle" of the Pentium III line. [No estimate was given in the article when this would be. This does not appear to include any current "mobile" chips, but there is no specific exclusion of them either.]
[1999/12/07]

Motorola Announces StarTAC ST7797 Multi-Network Phone

Nov. 30, 1999, Business Wire reports that Motorola Inc. and AT&T have announced that the Motorola StarTAC ST7797 TDMA phone is now available at AT&T stores. [I'm not sure why this is being billed as a "Multi-Network" phone. Only TDMA is mentioned in the article.]
[1999/12/07]

In The News Nov. 27 - 30, 1999

Walkie Talkies To Beat Y2K?

Nov. 30, 1999, Madeleine Acey writes for TechWeb that engineers at one of the world's biggest Internet exchanges are planning to use walkie talkies to communicate on New Year's Eve in order to avoid overloaded phone systems at midnight.

[This sounds like a good idea, and if you are planning on being out at midnight, you might consider having alternative communcations like this.]
[1999/12/04]

Panasonic Uses Sierra Wireless Radio Modem

Nov. 30, 1999, Canadian Corporate News reports that Panasonic Canada Inc. now offers a Sierra Wireless Inc. SB300 CDPD wireless modem for the Panasonic Toughbook CF-27 computer. The modem can be included from initial delivery or added later.
[1999/12/04]

ImagiWorks' Data Collection Feeds Quicksheet On Palm

Nov. 30, 1999, Business Wire reports that Cutting Edge Software Inc. has announced that it has developed an interface to combine ImageiWorks' ImagiProbe(TM) data collection and visualization software and the Quicksheet spreadsheet for the PalmOS platform.

Cutting Edge Software Inc. http://www.cesinc.com/
ImagiWorks http://www.imagiworks.com/
[1999/12/04]

Troj Explorezip Variant

Nov. 30, 1999, Business Wire reports that according to Trend Micro Inc., the Troj_Explorezip worm has returned but in a different compression which alludes detection from previous virus detection patches. Trend Micro has a new patch to protect from it.

http://www.antivirus.com/
[1999/12/04]

Telus Expands Digital In Alberta

Nov. 29, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Telus Mobility has announced that its digital cellular service is now available in Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Fort McMurray, and Grand Prairie.
[1999/12/04]

Motorola 64Kbps Internet Over cdmaOne Commercial Debut

Nov. 29, 1999, Business Wire reports that according to Motorola Inc.'s Network Solutions Sector, it's high speed wireless Internet access for cdmaOne(TM) networks will make its commercial debut in Japan on Jan. 7, 2000. The technology is based on cdmaOne TIA/EIA-IS-95B and allows data rates up to 64Kbps (faster than V-90).
[1999/12/04]

Rogers Cantel Brings Digital PCS To Pictou NS

Nov. 29, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Rogers Cantel Inc. has announced that it has bought Digital PCS services to Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
[1999/12/04]

PalmOS 3.3 Lost Day Bug Fixed

I downloaded the Palm 3.3 update on Oct. 21, 1999, and I think I updated on that date. If not, then I did so fairly soon after. Furthermore, I think it was available before that date, so other people have had this final version longer than me. So far, no one has reported a "lost day" when using the 3.3 update, so I think we can declare this a successful fix for that particular bug. There may be other bugs fixed as well. Unfortunately, there are some bugs still remaining and there have also been reports of new bugs, so its still hard to say how much of an improvement there has been overall specifically in terms of bugs.
[1999/12/04]

In The News Nov. 23 - 27, 1999

Olympus and IBM Develop Wearable PC

Nov. 26, 1999, Associated Press reports that Olympus and IBM (Japan) have developed a prototype "Wearable PC". Weighing 13 oz., it is powered by a Pentium CPU with 64MB memory, and runs Microsoft Windows. [Yet another one?]
[1999/11/30]

More Voice On Mobile Devices?

Nov. 26, 1999, Stuart Glascock writes for TechWeb that Samsung Electronics' watchphone (cellphone/wristwatch) uses voice recognition to start and receive phone calls. Lernout and Hauspie have signed an agreement with Symbian covering L&H's International Correct Spell and the IntelliFinder reference engine. [I don't think that either of these are necessarily for voice use. I'm not certain though.] Dragon Systems showed its "Mobile Organizer Version 4" which allows dication and synching voice to a main computer which can then translate.
[1999/11/30]

Rogers Cantel Brings Interactive Messaging To Halifax

Nov. 25, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Rogers Cantel Inc. has announced the availability of Cantel(R) AT&T(TM) Interactive Messaging service, supporting Internet E-Mail in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Using the RIM Inter@ctive Pager 950, messages up to 16,000 characters (about 5 text pages) can be delivered in about 10 seconds using Mobitex secure, packet-switching transmission. Powered by an Intel 386(TM) CPU, and having a miniature QWERTY keyboard and thumb wheel the 950 allows a reply to be written and sent.
[1999/11/30]

Motorola and Mobilkom Begin Trial of GPRS Over GSM

Nov. 23, 1999, Business Wire reports that Motorola and Mobilkom have achieve their first mobile data transfers over General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) in Austria. When trials have been completed, GPRS service will be integrated into the existing GSM network with commercial operation expected by summer 2000.

http://horizongprs.motorola.com/
[1999/11/30]

In The News Nov. 20 - 23, 1999

Rogers Cantel Brings "Pay As You Go" to Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Ft. McMurray and Grande Prairie

Nov. 23, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Rogers Cantel Inc. has announced that it has extended coverage of "Pay As You Go" wireless services in Alberta to the areas of Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Ft. McMurray and Grande Prairie.
[1999/11/27]

Compaq Introduces Prosignia Notebook 170 Portable Computer

Nov. 23, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer Corporation has announced that orders are being taken for its new Prosignia Notebooke 170 Portable Computer. Delivery will commence in December. Prices start at $2,336 US.
[1999/11/27]

Apple iBook Best Seller

Nov. 23, 1999, Reuters reports that according to PC Data, the Apple iBook was the top selling portable computer in the US in October.
[1999/11/27]

AudeSi Working On Java Phone Apps

Nov. 23, 1999, Loring Wirbel writes for EE Times that AudeSi Technologies, a startup company partnered with Sun Microsystems and Motorola is working on "Java bean middleware for Internet appliances ranging from mobile phones to set-top boxes and gaming platforms."

Chinese Mobile Market To Grow Through 2005

Nov. 23, 1999, Business Wire reports that according to Frost & Sullivan, the Chinese mobile computer market is expected to grow from a current 600,000 existing units at about 18.7% per year through 2005 with sub-notebook computers overtaking notebook computers. The report #4888-71, Oct. 1999 costs $2,950 US.

http://www.frost.com/
[1999/11/27]

Dell Announces Aironet And RIM Wireless Products

Nov. 22, 1999, Business Wire reports that Dell Computer Corporation has announced availability of Aironet(TM) Wireless Communications Inc.'s 4800 Series wireless LAN products for enterprise use with speeds up to 11 Mbps. and plans for a consumer version "by the end of this year." For the current enterprise products, the portable computer card will cost $199 and $999 for a "access point." An access point can handle up to 50 simultaneous connections with coverage up to 300 feet.

Also, from Nov. 30, 1999, Dell will offer the Research In Motion BlackBerry in the US. The Blackberry costs $399 per unit, and airtime service is priced at $39.99 US per month with no roaming or long distance surcharges. Compatible enterprise server software (version 1.60 is priced at $2,999 US.
[1999/11/27]

AMD PCnet-Home(TM) CE Certified

Nov. 22, 1999, Business Wire reports that AMD has announced that its PCnet-Home(TM) controller is the first Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA) compliant product to be European CE certified.
[1999/11/27]

US Wireless Growth To Slow

Nov. 22, 1999, America's Networks writes that the US will remain a "wired" society through 2010 with wireless growth slowing after next year. Projections are that the US wireless will have only 3% of total voice traffic in 2000, rising to 5% by 2005 and 10% by 2010. Due to falling prices, revenue growth will slow despite increase use. "Wireless revenues are expected to increase to 15% to 20% by 2000, remain at the 15% level through 2005, and settle to the 10% to 15% level by the end of the next decade."
[1999/11/27]

In The News Nov. 16 - 20, 1999

W97M/Prilissa Christmas Day Virus Alert

Nov. 19, 1999, PR Newswire reports that the Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team (AVERT) division of NAI Labs at Network Associates, Inc. has announced that a new self-propagating virus has been found which is being called "W97M/Prilissa". This is a Word 97 Macro virus similar to Melissa but with a payload that will reformat a user's hard drive on Dec. 25 (any year). The virus arrives via E-Mail with a subject line "Message From ". The body reads "This document is very Important and you've GOT to read this !!!" A Word document is attached. If the document is opened the user becomes infected. Evidence of infection are the presence of random characters and objects in open Word documents. Word 97 users will also see a dialog box with:

"(C) 1999 - cyberNET
Vine ...  Vide ...  Vice ...  Moslem Power Never End ...
You Dare Rise Against Me ...  The Human era is
Over, The CyberNET Era Has Come!!!
[OK]"

Further infected E-Mail is sent to the first 50 entries in a Microsoft Outlook address book. The user's registry is modified. Then the modification causes the C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT to be replaced on Dec. 25. The new payload will reformat the Hard Drive on the next boot.

[Nov. 19, 1999, Lee Kimber writes for TechWeb about the "Melissa.w" virus which seems to be the same virus.]

http://www.nai.com/
http://www.McAfee.com/
[1999/11/23]

Dell Down With Virus

Nov. 19, 1999, Madeleine Acey writes for TechWeb that Dell has said that its Irish plant in Limerick had halted production for "several days" due to a computer virus infection. Although 500 comptuers were recalled, none was found to have been infected. [The writer does not confirm that this was an infection of the W32.FunLove.4099 virus that infects applications with .EXE, .SCR and .OCX extensions and first found in the US on Nov. 9, 1999, but seems to imply that it probably was this virus.]
[1999/11/23]

Second Group Develops Molecular Gate

Nov. 19, 1999, Maggie Fox writes for Reuters that following the Hewlett-Packard/UCLA announcement in July, a second team of developers from Rice University in Houston and Yale University in New Haven has developed a molecular logic gate. According to James Tour of Rice "The biggest difference is that ours was reversible -- theirs was irreversible."
[1999/11/23]

Microcell And National Bank Agreement For Wireless Financial Services

Nov. 18, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Microcell Solutions Inc. and National Bank of Canada have agreed to provide their customers with access to financial services via their wireless phones. Tests will be conducted commercial service will become available "next year."

http://www.microcell.ca/
http://www.bnc.ca/
[1999/11/23]

In The News Nov. 13 - 16, 1999

Rogers Cantel Extends Digital One Rate

Nov. 16, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Rogers Cantel has extended its "Digital One Rate" service to cover "calls made and received by Digital One Rate customers while in the U.S." which effectively removes "roaming charges" for customers crossing the Canada/US boarder. From Feb. 2000 onward, this will be extended further "to calls made and received in the U.S." [This is ambiguous but I think it means that long distance within the US for DOR customers roaming in the US will be eliminated.]
[1999/11/20]

BSQUARE Announces New Version of bFAX Pro

Nov. 16, 1999, Business Wire reports that BSQUARE has announced a significantly improved version (5.0) of its bFAX Pro software for Windows CE. Internet FAXing is included as well as the ability to receive FAXes while the machine is off (a service provided by NetMoves or JFAX.COM) and the ability to annotate a received FAX. bFAX Pro will be available for $49.95 "early first quarter, 2000."
[1999/11/20]

First WebPAD Device To Be Demonstrated At COMDEX

Nov. 16, 1999, Business Wire reports that Boundless Technologies, Inc. has announced that its new iBrow(TM) information appliance based on the National(R) Geode(TM) WebPAD(TM) reference platform, the first production Internet access device based on this platform, will be demonstrated at COMDEX '99.

Boundless Technologies, iBrow http://www.boundless.com/ibrow/
[1999/11/20]

DT Research Inc. DT300 Uses Geode And Windows CE

Nov. 16, 1999, Business Wire reports that DT Research Inc.'s DT300 Wireless Thin Client uses Windows CE on National Semiconductor's Geode(TM) GXLV processor. The DT300 uses the 2.5GHz band for wireless LAN connectivity.
[1999/11/20]

HP Jornada Featured In James Bond Movie

Nov. 16, 1999, PR Newswire reports that an HP Jornada handheld computer is used in the up coming James Bond movie "The World Is Not Enough".

photo http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991116/NYFNSU02
[1999/11/20]

Clearnet PCS In Halifax

Nov. 15, 1999, Clearnet Communications Inc. has announced that Clearnet PCS services are now available in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The current digital coverage area includes Halifax, Bedford, Dartmouth, Uplands Park and the airport, with further expansion in the province planned throughout 2000.

http://www.clearnet.com/
[1999/11/20]

Adobe Announces Commercial eBook Support In Acrobat Reader

Nov. 15, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Adobe Systems Incorporated has announced that the latest version of Acrobat(R) Reader, available today, supports "Web Buy", an encryption system allowing commercially distributed books to be downloaded and read. Currently, 20 classic books can downloaded for free from Adobe's website at no charge. Versions are available for Windows(R) and Macintosh platforms.
[1999/11/20]

Geoworks Still Consulting For Nokia

Nov. 15, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Geoworks Corporation and Nokia have announced that they have extended their agreement whereby Geoworks is helping to develop application software for Nokia devices.
[1999/11/20]

HP Working With Swatch

Nov. 15, 1999, Associated Press reports that Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Carly Fiorina has said that HP is working with Swatch to develop a wristwatch that can access the Web. No details were provided.
[1999/11/20]

Nat-Semi Announces Linux Support for WebPAD

Nov. 15, 1999, Business Wire reports that National Semiconductor Corporation has announced that Infomatec AG will port its Linux- based platform Java Network Technology(TM) operating system to the National(R) Geode(TM) WebPAD(TM) platform.
[1999/11/20]

Everex Drops Windows CE Devices

Nov. 15, 1999, Stephanie Miles writes for CNET that Everex has discontinued its Windows CE based handheld computer product line.
[1999/11/20]

Sony Working With Palm

Nov. 16, 1999, Palm Computing, Inc. and Sony Corporation have announced to jointly develop a "next generation platform for handheld consumer electronics products with audio-visual (AV) functionality." Sony has licensed PalmOS and Palm has committed to supporting Sony's Memory Stick storage and data exchange technology "as part of the Palm Computing platform."

"Sony plans to implement the Palm Computing platform into an entirely new line of handheld electronics products that will not be limited to electronic organizers but are expected to include a wide range of mobile wireless telecommunications-enabled AV/IT consumer electronics products.

In addition, Palm and Sony have agreed to jointly work on developing a future version of the Palm OS operating system which would incorporate not only Memory Stick technology but other Sony AV technologies as well. This new version of the Palm OS operating system would make it possible to develop a new generation of mobile consumer electronics products based on the Palm Computing platform, which will be made available for licensing by third parties."

[Sorry for the extensive quote. Sometimes exact wording is important. I am interested in the apparent strength in the commitment to "Memory Stick" whereas I had expected that in time Palm would adopt the Handspring "Springboard" expansion port. Then again, Visor could create a "Springboard" to receive a "Memory Stick."]

Sony Corporation http://www.sony.co.jp/
[1999/11/16]

In The News Nov. 9 - 13, 1999

Qualcomm Brings High Speed Data To CDMA

Nov. 10, 1999, Business Wire reports that on Nov. 8, 1999 Qualcomm announced its High Speed Data Rates (HDR) technology which is compatible with cdmaOne(TM), capable of transmitting up to 1.8 Megabits per second in fixed and mobile environments.
[1999/11/16]

Microcell Releases 99 Q3 Results

Nov. 10, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Microcell Telecommunications Inc. has announced its financial and operating results for the three months ending Sept. 30, 1999. [Since subscriptions have already been announced, and I do not generally post financial results on this Website, I will summarize by saying that previous announced numbers appear to be confirmed.]
[1999/11/16]

In The News Nov. 6 - 9, 1999

"Seinfeld" Virus Attacks Outlook Express

Nov. 10, 1999, Associated Press reports that a new virus known as "Bubbleboy" or Seinfeld" is a "worm" virus that is activated by merely highlighting the name of a received EMail message subject line in "Outlook Express". It propogates to all addresses in the e-mail program. It works if "Windows Scripting Host" is present on the computer. The current prank version renames the registered owner to "Bubbleboy" and makes other "Seinfeld" references. It affects computers using Windows 98, 2000, some versions of 95, (but not NT), if used with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 and Outlook Express. The August upgrade to Internet Explorer 5.0 protects against "Bubbleboy", Network Associates has a software patch, and Microsoft's highest-security e-mail filter will block the virus.
[1999/11/13]

HP To Release E-speak Source Code

Nov. 9, 1999, Business Wire reports that Hewlett-Packard Company has announced that it will release its "e-speak" source code on Dec. 8, 1999 for open source developers.

[I'm not sure what "e-speak" is. It seems to be an interprocess language or protocol. The release notes that it is being used with Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) for complex transactions.]

http://www.hp.com/e-speak/developers/
http://www.e-speak.net/
[1999/11/13]

Clearnet Launches Mike In Alberta

Nov. 8, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Clearnet Communications Inc. has launched The Mike Network in Alberta. Clearnet notes that capital investment in Alberta is ongoing and will reach $170 million (Cdn) by the end of 2000. Current coverage includes Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer. Fort McMurray, Camrose, Banff, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat are expected to be open by the end of 1999 with Dawson Creek, Peace River, Grande Prairie, High Prairie, Slave Lake, Whitecourt, Cold Lake, Lloydminster, Hanna, Drumheller, Drayton Valley, Milk River, Rocky Mountain House, Hinton and other locations open by the end of 2000.
[1999/11/13]

Compaq Laptop Computers Feature Mini PCI

Nov. 8, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer Corporation says that its Armada E700, M700, M300, E500 and V300 Series laptop computer all feature Mini PCI connections with integrated RJ11 and RJ45 ports.
[1999/11/13]

3Com Supports Mini PCI Specification

Nov. 8, 1999, Business Wire reports that 3Com Corporation commended the PCI Special Interest Group for its approval of the Mini PCI Specification. This specification is expected to be used mainly in laptop computers and may eventually replace PC Cards.
[1999/11/13]

VTech Helio Shipping

Nov. 3, 1999, VTech has begun shipping its Helio handheld computer. The shipped version is priced at $179 US, with improved specifications. The Helio now comes standard with 8 MB of RAM allowing 55 minutes of recording time. Furthermore, three additional colors have been announced -- translucent blue, translucent green and clear. The five colors originally announced (metallic blue, pearlized pink, bright yellow, cool gray and green with purple tint) are also still available.

http://www.vtechinfo.com/
[1999/11/13]

In The News Nov. 2 - 6, 1999

Cisco Efforts May Infringe Wi-LAN Patents

Nov. 4, 1999, Mathew Ingram writes for The Globe And Mail that Cisco System's announced plan to develop a standard for wireless data transmission based on it s "vector OFDM" technology acquired when it purchased Clarity Wirelesss (See previous item "Cisco Plans To Develop Wireless Data Standard") might infringe Wi-LAN's Patents for "wide band OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing). Cisco has been informed of the potential patent overlap, but has not yet responded.
[1999/11/09]

256Mbit DRAM Made On 300mm Wafers

Nov. 4, 1999, Business Wire reports that Semiconductor300 (a joint venture of Infineon Technologies and Motorola) claim to have produced the first 256Mbit DRAM functional chips on 300mm wafers.

http://www.sc300.de/
[1999/11/09]

NEC Folds Packard Bell Brand

Nov. 3, 1999, Reuters reports that "Packard Bell NEC will shut most of its U.S. operation and remove the computer brand from retail shelves in the United State." The brand will still be used in Europe. [Packard Bell hasn't been in the laptop industry lately, but any effect this will have on NEC portable computers is currently unclear. I'll try to get more info from PBNEC in Canada as soon as I can.]
[1999/11/09]

Compaq Prosignia Notebook 150 Has 475MHz AMD K6(R)-2 P

Nov. 3, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Compaq Computer Corporation has announced that its Prosignia Notebook 150 can be ordered with 475MHz or 433MHz versions of AMD K6(R)-2 P Mobile processors. Prices start at $2,299 US for the 475MHz version and $1,999 US for the 433MHz version.
[1999/11/09]

Universal Paging Telecommunications To Resell Microcell Services

Nov. 3, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Microcell Telecommuncations Inc. has announced that Microcell Connexions Inc. has signed a wholesale agreement with Universal Paging Telecommunications (UPT) making UPT a reseller of Microcell's services. UPT will sell PCS services under the name "SiMPRO".
[1999/11/09]

Taiwan Second Quake

Nov. 1, 1999, Duncan Martell reports that semiconductor and large computer company stocks fell after a second major earthquake, (6.9 on the Richter scale) rocked Taiwan.
[1999/11/06]

In The News Oct. 30 - Nov. 2, 1999

Bell Mobility Announces Mobile Conference Calling

Nov. 2, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Bell Mobility has announced the availability of "Group Calling" conference calls with support for up to 32 participants. The new system allows for full duplex support which allow all participants to talk at the same time, instead of the common "simplex" systems which only allow one person to speak at a time. "The fee for Group Calling is $15 per group per month, billed to the call initiator. Participants on the call will be charged 20 cents per minute, including long distance. The call initiator is not charged for airtime. Group Calling is available in both French and English starting November 1, 1999.
[1999/11/06]

NEC Announces Three Laptop Computers

Nov. 2, 1999, Amanda Stirpe writes for Computer Reseller News that NEC Computer Systems Division of Packard Bell NEC has announced three new laptop computers with built-in Mini PCI ports.

Versa FX: 400MHz Intel Pentium III, 12.1" TFT display, 12GB HD, 3.5 lbs., including external CD-ROM and floppy drives, $2,499 US.

Versa VX: 500MHz Pentium III, 6.4 lbs., 12.1" SVGA TFT display or 14.1" XGA TFT display, 6GB HD and port replicator priced from $1,699 US to $3,599 US.

Versa LXi, (based on SX and LX) 500MHz Pentium III, built-in floppy or 120MB SuperDisk drive, 15" XGA TFT screen, starting at $2,999 US.
[1999/11/06]

RealNetworks Admits Privacy Breach

Nov. 2, 1999, Reuters reports that RealNetworks Inc. is issuing a patch for its "RealJukebox" Software which will prevent it from sending personal user information to it without properly informing end users.
[1999/11/06]

Floppy Drive Law Suits Continue

Nov. 2, 1999, Reuters reports that law suits have been filed against Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., NEC Corp., Packard-Bell-NEC Electronics Inc. and eMachines Inc. for selling computers with defective floppy drives, similar to the claim made against Toshiba. Compaq has said it will defend against the suit, HP, eMachines and PBNEC have said that they have not seen the suit(s) and declined to comment and NEC reps could not be reached.
[1999/11/06]

TI and ARM To Work Together On DSP And MCU Platform

Nov. 2, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Texas Instruments and ARM have announced that the two companies will collaborate on a combined DSP and Microcontroller platform for "next- generation wireless information devices. The new dual-core platform will combine a TI DSP and ARM's 32-bit RISC core.
[1999/11/06]

Silicon Wave Claims First Bluetooth System-On-A-Chip

Nov. 2, 1999, Business Wire reports that Silicon Wave Inc. has demonstrated its integrated radio/modem component intended for use in Bluetooth systems. Silicon Wave claims this is the first Bluetooth "system-on-a-chip" device. Component prototypes are currently shipping with production samples expected in Q1, 2000 and full production in Q2, 2000.

http://www.siliconwave.com/
[1999/11/06]

PacketVideo Demonstrates Wireless Video

Nov. 2, 1999, PR Newswire reports that PacketVideo Corporation has demonstrated live streaming video to palm-size and handheld PC. [There were no real details in this article.]

http://www.packetvideo.com/
[1999/11/06]

HP Announces Windows CE Jornada 690

Nov. 1, 1999, Business Wire reports that Hewlett-Packard Company has announced its HP Jornada 690 handheld computer which features 32MB RAM which is expected to benefit vertical markets.

HP Jornada 690: 133MHz CPU, 6.5" screen with 65,536 colours, 7.4" * 3.7" * 1.3", 1.1 lbs., built-in 56Kbps V. 90 modem, Windows CE Handheld PC Professional Edition, added software, available later in Nov. for $999 US.

According to HP, the Jornada 680 will continue to be available at $899 US.
[1999/11/06]

Motorola Announces Baseband Processor For All Modes

Nov. 1, 1999, Business Wire reports that Motorola has announced its new DSP56690 baseband processor which is claimed to be capable of supporting all major existing wireless standards including CDMA, GSM, iDEN and TDMA. The processor includes a Digital Signal Processor and an M-CORE(TM) microcontroller. The 1.8 V. device features a DSP66600 core running at 100MHz and an M-CORE M210 running at 50MHz. which communicate through a shared RAM memory block. Limited samples are expected in late Q4, 1999 with volume production in Q1, 2000.
[1999/11/06]

Toshiba Settles Floppy Controller Lawsuit

Nov. 1, 1999, Andy Pasztor and Peter Landers writes for The Wall Street Journal that Toshiba Corp. has settled a class action law suit for allegedly selling defective laptop computers for $2.1 billion US. The allegation regards a suspected flaw in the floppy disk controller chip which might randomly destroy or corrupt data. The accusation regards a family of controller chips by Intel and NEC, but have been "copied by chip makers around the world."

[The implications of this law suit might be huge. I doubt if there are many long time computer users who haven't lost data due to a computer defect -- hardware or software. Warranty limits are broadly drafted to limit the computer makers exposure to discourage law suits like this. Since the case was settled, the liability is still undecided, but the court papers would make interesting reading.]
[1999/11/02]

In The News Oct. 26 - 30, 1999

Microsoft Acquires Entropic

Oct. 29, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Microsoft has acquired Entropic Inc., a developer of software tools for developing speech based applications.
[1999/11/02]

Mobilink Announces New GSM Mobile Chips

Oct. 29, 1999, Canadian Corporate News reports that Mobilink Telecom has announced its ML2020 System-On-A-Chip GSM Baseband ASIC for Wireless Internet Applications which is supported by its "multi-slot GPRS" software to allow faster data transfers. Samples of the chip will be available in early 2000 with volume production beginning in Q3. Also announced is the ML2010 which adds voice recognition and recording.

Mobilink Telecom http://www.mobilinktel.com/
[1999/11/02]

IBM Develops Flexible Transistor

Oct. 28, 1999, Maggie Fox writes for Reuters that IBM has announced that it has developed a thin, flexible transistor based on a "new class of materials" which can be laid down onto plastic. According to Cherie Kagan, the process is relatively low temperature and Kagan and her collegues are working with phenethylammonium tin iodide and are looking for other metals and organic compounds that will work.
[1999/11/02]

Flash To Lead Semicon Growth

Oct. 27, 1999, Therese Poletti writes for Reuters that the Semiconductor Industry Association has estimated that 1999 industry growth is expected to be 15 percent at $144 billion US, and forecasts 2000 sales to rise a further 21% to $174 billion US. Though DRAM is expected to continue strong growth of 31% to $18 billion US and 39% in 2000 to $25 billion US, Flash memory is expected to have ever stronger near term increases with 63% growth to $4.1 billion US in 1999 and 36% growth in 2000 to $5.5 billion US.
[1999/11/02]

IBM And Nokia Work Together On Speech

Oct. 27, 1999, Business Wire reports that IBM and Nokia "will collaborate on a wide range of speech technology projects in the area of speech recognition, conversational systems, text to speech and speaker recognition . . . [and] will also share resources for long-term research and development, with a focus on VoiceXML, multi-modal Internet browsing, and other speech-enabled applications." Related to this agreement, Nokia has licensed IBM's ViaVoice Directory Dialer for automated directory assistance and call routing.

Also in this regard, IBM and seven other companies have developed the "VoiceTIMES" audio specification for digital recorders and speech recognition applications.

http://www.ibm.com/software/voicetimes/
[1999/11/02]

Motorola Buys Digianswer

Oct. 26, 1999, Reuters reports that Motorola has bought a majority share of Olicom A/S which owns Digianswer, a developer of Bluetooth and HomeRF products. Digianswer will provide Motorola with its Bluetooth technology and co-develop a HomeRF product.
[1999/11/02]

In The News Oct. 23 - 26, 1999

Fujitsu Uses AMD For LifeBook C Series

Oct. 26, 1999, Business Wire reports that Fujitsu has introduced its new LifeBook C Series laptop computer with a 450MHz Mobile AMD K6-2-P CPU. Features available include 13.3" XGA TFT and 12.1" SVGA TFT screens, built-in DVD and CD-ROM drives, and up to 9GB HD. Prices start at $1,499 US, beginning in November.

http://www.FPCDirect.com/
[1999/10/30]

Motorola iTAP Keyboard System Eases Short Messages

Oct. 26, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Lexicus Division of Motorola, Inc. has announced the availability of its iTAP(TM) intelligent keypad entry system which supports Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Short Messaging Service (SMS), to simplify text entry for entering short messages. The system predicts the most likely word entered from a dictionary of 40,000 set words and allows users to add more words. The system is expected to be included in Motorola's tri-band Timeport(TM) L7089 GSM phone this quarter.
[1999/10/30]

iBIZ Announces New Palm Device Keyboard

Oct. 26, 1999, Business Wire reports that iBIZ Technology Corp. has announced that its KeySync(TM) keyboard which works with all 3Com Palm devices will be included in Pennwell Publishing's "Software and Resources Guide for the Palm Computing(R) Platform."

http://www.ibizcorp.com/
[1999/10/30]

Microcell Demonstrates 3G Wireless Videoconferencing

Oct. 26, 1999, Canada Newswire reports that Microcell Connexions Inc. performed a live demonstation of 3rd generation wireless capabilities including video-telephony, high-speed wireless Web browsing and simultaneous transmission of video images, voice and data at the 42nd GSM Association plenary.

http://www.gsm-pcs.org/
[1999/10/30]

Rogers Cantel Starts Wireless Data In Winnipeg

Oct. 26, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Rogers Cantel Inc. has announced two new wireless data services in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Cantel(R) AT&T(TM) Interactive Messaging service allows users to send and receive messages worldwide via Internet e-mail, and Cantel AT&T AirPOS(TM) is a wireless point of sale service which allows on the spot sales transactions. The Interactive Messaging uses the RIM Inter@ctive Pager 950 which features an Intel 386 processor and QWERTY keyboard, over the Cantel AT&T Mobitex network. The AirPOS system is supported by the Royal Bank and Scotiabank, using the IVI Checkmate Elite 780 terminal or Schlumberger Magic 9000 terminal.

DY 4 To Upgrade F-18's

Sony Special Order Robot Pets

Oct. 26, 1999, Business Wire report that Sony Corporation has announced that for a limited time, it will sell a special edition of its "AIBO" ERS-111 entertainment robot. Orders will be taken from Nov. 1 - 8, 1999 only for delivery in the December holiday season, for customers in the U.S., Japan and Europe.

AIBO streaming videoclip http://www.medialink.com/medialink/99-483.shtml
[1999/10/30]

DY 4 Systems Upgrade F-18E/F Mission Computers

Oct. 26, Canada News Wire reports that DY 4 Systems, Inc. has been awarded a $1 million (US?) order by General Dynamics Information Systems for upgrading the US F-18E/F Fighter's Advanced Mission Computer and Display (AMCD) System. Each upgrade uses 4 Single Board PowerPC(TM) based DMV-179 computers. [I would call this "extreme mobile technology."]
[1999/10/30]

Gateway Solo 2550, Mobile Pentium III, Under $2,000

Oct. 25, 1999, Business Wire reports that Gateway, Inc. has announced the release of its Solo(R) 2550 laptop computer powered by an Intel Mobile Pentium III for under $2,000 US.

http://www.gateway.com/
[1999/10/30]

HP OmniBooks Feature Intel Pentium III And ATI RAGE Graphics

Oct. 25, 1999, Business Wire reports that Hewlett-Packard Company has announced that its HP OmniBook 4150 and HP OmniBook 900 laptop computers will use the new Intel Mobile Pentium(R) III processors and all HP OmniBook 4150 and 900 laptop computers will use ATI RAGE Mobility(R) graphics accelerators.

http://www.hp.com/omnibook/
[1999/10/30]

Cisco Plans To Develop Wireless Data Standard

Oct. 25, 1999, Reuters reports that Cisco Systems Inc. has announced that it will work with 10 high tech companies to establish a standard method of wireless data transmission based on technology it has acquired with its acquisition of Clarity Wireless, Inc. Cisco says that it will make the technology available to its competitors in order to establish the standard.
[1999/10/30]

NEC Announces Plans To Use Mobile Pentium III

Oct. 26, 1999, NEC has announced that it will use the Mobile Pentium III in three upcoming lines of laptop computers.

"In the coming weeks, NEC CSD plans to introduce three new lines of Versa notebook computers. Each system is designed to meet the varying degrees of functionality and portability that our customers require."

[Sorry, no time to summarize this article properly. I'm running late.]
[1999/10/26]

Compaq Armada Lines Redesigned

Oct. 25, 1999, Compaq Canada has announced changes to its Armada laptop computers. There are now five lines of Compaq Armada commercial laptop portable computers:

Compaq Armada E500 takes over from Armada 1750 (Compaq's "all-in-one design for 'workhorse' business needs").
Compaq Armada M300 ("ultraportable").
Compaq Armada V300 takes over from Armada 1500c (Compaq's "best value notebook for the budget-conscious customer").
Compaq Armada E700, (Compaq's "powerhouse notebook for enterprise customers.")
Compaq Armada M700 ("high performance, high mobility").

Compaq also announced price reductions on a number of its Armada products.
[1999/10/26]

IBM Announces Changes To ThinkPad Lineup

Oct. 25, 1999 Canada News Wire reports that IBM has announced changes in its ThinkPad lineup.

"The expanded lineup includes the new ThinkPad 600X with the ideal balance of performance and portability, the all-in-one ThinkPad 390X models that feature the new Intel Mobile Pentium III processor and finally, the popular ThinkPad 240 mini-notebook has been enhanced with a Mobile Intel Celeron processor at 366 MHz."

[Sorry, as mentioned above, I didn't have time to summarize this article properly.]
[1999/10/26]

In The News Oct. 19 - 23, 1999

Frontier Design Small Speech Core

Oct. 22, 1999, Stephan Ohr writes for EE Times, that Frontier Design claims to have a low cost ($1.40 US each in 500,000-piece lots) speech recognition core with over 97% accuracy for control applications.
[1999/10/26]

Rogers Cantel Announces 1999 Q3 Results

Oct. 21, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Rogers Cantel Mobile Communications Inc. (RCI) has announced its 1999 Q3 results (ending Sept. 30, 1999). Gross cellular activations were 191,100, up 58,900 over 1998 Q3, and 99,000 more than at the end of 1999 Q2, giving a total of 2,008,700 cellular customers at Sept. 30, 1999. Roughly 775,000 customers were on Digital PCS (about 38.6%) and 217,600 were using prepaid "Pay as you Go" service. The average monthly churn rate was 1.75% (down from 1.87% in Q3 1998). Average monthly revenue per unit (ARPU) was $50, down $5 from 1999 Q3.
[1999/10/26]

Clearnet Offers Sanyo Handset

Oct. 20, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Clearnet Communications Inc. and Sanyo Canada Inc. have announced that Clearnet will offer the Sanyo SCP-4000 handset. Built exclusively for Clearnet, the SCP-4000 is a dual mode handset with a blue "ClearGlo" backlight and a unique navigation key, 133 g. weight, 3 hrs. talk time, ( up to 4.5 days standby), 300 entry phonebook, alarm clock, calculator, games and vibrating "ringer", priced at $99.99 Cdn.
[1999/10/26]

Sun's Java 2 For Palm Still Not Ready

Oct. 20, 1999, Business Wire reports that Sun showed its latest developments for "Java 2 Platform Micro Edition" (J2ME) at the PalmSource '99 Conference. [No delivery date has been given yet.]
[1999/10/26]

TRGPro Handheld Brings Compact Flash To PalmOS

Oct. 18, 1999, TRG has announced its new TRGPro handheld computer based on the PalmOS platform but including a Compact Flash slot and improved sound.

http://www.trgpro.com/
[1999/10/26]

Siemens Announces New Handheld Computer

Oct. 9, 1999, at Telecom '99, Siemens AG has announced plans for an upcoming handheld computer called the "Siemens IC35 -- The Unifier". Details were not provided, but Siemens expects to launch the product in the coming year. [The picture shows a clamshell device roughly the size of a Palm III with a monochrome grey scale display. [Warning! This website crashed the Mac version of Netscape Navigator. I don't know why, but it might not be accessible for some other browsers as well. I eventually accessed it with a version of Navigator on Windows 95.]

http://www.siemens.de/telecom99/
[1999/10/26]

So? Don't Buy A Computer. . . .

Apparently, just laying out the facts isn't enough for some people so I'll take a moment to write what should be obvious. Prices for memory right now are substantially higher than a few months ago. How much higher? About 4X higher than mid-summer. Todays desk computer operating systems and applications take lots of memory. Furthermore, due to the Taiwan earthquake, there might be minor shortages of motherboards, and just about everything else. All these shortages will probably mean higher prices than one would otherwise have encountered.

Since the vast majority of people reading this already have computer equipment, the obvious conclusion is that while you might like to get something new, you probably don't really need it right now. So? Don't buy it. If you can put off purchases for say, 6 months, you'll probably save a bundle of money. In the meanwhile, buy some inlines and go skating.

Oh, many Palm computers and IBM WorkPad equivalents are made in the US and Psion products (Series 5mx, etc.) are made in the UK. That might help them a bit. I'm not so sure about that since various components are made in the orient in general, and might come from Taiwan, but those companies might be in a better position than some with products that are made in Taiwan directly or near by. But that's something you'll see in prices and availability, so don't bother looking for it on the label -- look for the box on the shelf and the price sticker.
[1999/10/23] revised [1999/10/26]

3Com Releases PalmOS 3.3 Upgrade

Oct. 21, 1999, The PalmOS 3.3 upgrade can now be downloaded from 3Com/Palm's website. Versions of the upgrade are available for versions of the Palm handheld computers with Flash memory. Those include the Palm III, Palm IIIx, Palm V, and version of older Palm computers such as the "Palm Pilot Personal" and "Palm Pilot Professional" which have been upgraded to the 3.0 (or later) software.

Palm Computing downloads http://www.palm.com/custsupp/index.html
1999/10/23]

In The News Oct. 16 - 19, 1999

Philips Semi Announces Telecom Platform

Oct. 19, 1999, Business Wire reports that Philips Semiconductors has announced a telecommunications platform based on an ARM processor and Philips "Reconfigurable Embedded DSP Architecture Low Power/Low Cost (R.E.A.L.) Digital Signal Processor (DSP) cores.
[1999/10/23]

Wi-LAN Promotes Patent Before ITU

Oct. 19, 1999, Canadian Corporate News reports that Wi-LAN has announced that it has filed an intellectual property statement with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) offering to make its "Multicode Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum" (MCDSSS) patented technology available for licensing "on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms." The ITU is meeting in Helsinki starting Oct. 25 for final consideration of its 3G standard. Current CDMA assigns a single code to each user.
[1999/10/23]

Thomas & Betts Claims Longest Battery Life

Oct. 19, 1999, Business Wire reports that Thomas & Betts Corporation claims that its new battery allows laptops to run up to 12 hours between charges, which it claims is "one of the longest run times in the battery industry." The battery uses the company's "PLI cell" technology which allows the battery to be made in a variety of shapes. [Note: The actual chemical or physical storage method is not described in this article.]

http://www.tnb.com/
[1999/10/23]

Nat Semi Licenses Jot For WebPAD Platform

Oct. 19, 1999, Business Wire reports that National Semiconductor Corporation (NS) and Communications Intelligence Corporation (CIC) have announced that NS is licensing CIC's Jot(R) handwriting recognition system for its Geode(TM) WEbPAD(TM) reference design. The WebPAD is a "portable wireless personal access device." The Geode WebPAD also currently features the QNX operating system and Geode GXLV CPU, including x86 core, sound, graphics, memory controller and PCI interface.
[1999/10/23]

AKM Announces Very Low Power Stereo Codec

Oct. 19, 1999, Business Wire reports that AKM Semiconductor introduced its AK4550 2.5V 16-bit stereo Codec which is claimed to consume 25mW of power. Appropriate for consumer applications such as MP3 players, it costs $2.73 in quantities of 5,000 pieces.

http://www.akm.com/
[1999/10/23]

Rogers Cantel Brings "Pay As You Go" To Windsor And Brantford

Oct. 18, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Rogers Cantel Inc. has announced that it has commenced "Pay As You Go" wireless services in Windsor and Brantford, Ontario. Each $25 Cdn. card allows 60 minutes of calling in Canada (about $.042 per minute), including long distance and calls between "Pay As You Go" users are free for the receiving user.
[1999/10/23]

Palm Expands Support For Enterprise Deployment

Oct. 18, 1999, Palm Computing, Inc. has announced availability of "Palm(TM) HotSync(R) server software", the "Palm(TM) Ethernet cradle," and an enterprise service and support program. The Palm Hotsync server allows cross-platform sychronization by supporting both Palm OS and Microsoft Windows CE based devices. The "enterprise service and support program" includes help desk training, on site service exchange and an extended warranty program.

http://www.palm.com/enterprise/
[1999/10/23]

Motorola And Philippe Kahn Invest In OpenGrid Inc.

Oct. 17, 1999, Reuters reports that Motorola Inc. and Philippe Kahn have invested a combined total of over $8 million US in OpenGrid Inc. which is writing switching software for wireless messaging. It is expected that this software will be used by the wireless version of America Online's Instant Messaging software.
[1999/10/23]

In The News Oct. 12 - 16, 1999

Clearnet Adds i700plus Handset To Mike

Oct. 15, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Clearnet Communications Inc. has announced that the i700plus Internet-ready digital wireless phone is now available for use with the Mike service. Prices start at $129 Cdn. According to Clearnet, later this year, Mike users will be able to use its built in microbrowser to access the Internet or intranet or extranet Web sites. Currently, the handset can be used to directly connect to normal computer serial ports.
[1999/10/19]

Bell Mobility Announces Four Digital North America Plans

Oct. 15, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Bell Mobility has announced four new "Digital North America" service plans. The plans are DNA 200, DNA 400, DNA 800 and DNA 1600, replacing DNA 350 and DNA 2000. The plans feature flat rate calling throughout 95% of North America.
[1999/10/19]

Microcell Reports 1999 Q3

Oct. 14, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Microcell Telecommunications Inc. has announced that it has added 54,815 customers in Q3 1999, for a total of 459,392 subscribers as of Sept. 30, 1999, compared to 180,838 at on Sept. 30, 1998. Of the new subscribers in the quarter, 22,322 (41%) use postpaid service. Post gurantee period churn rate for the quarter was 2.4%, down from 2.8% for the same quarter a year ago.
[1999/10/19]

Rogers Cantel Applies for 2.5GHz MCS License

Oct. 14, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Rogers Cantel has announced that it has applied to Industry Canada for a 2.5 GHz Multipoint Communications Services (MCS) license for British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and the Eastern Ontario and Outaouais Region.
[1999/10/19]

BT And Microsoft To Develop Handheld Wireless Devices

Oct. 14, 1999, Associated Press reports that British Telecommunications PLC and Microsoft have announced that they will jointly develop "technologies" to enable people to use handheld wireless devices for sending e-mail and browsing the Internet. The project will focus on developing mobile Internet products based on the Microsoft Windows CE operating system and the first products and services from this agreement are expected to become commercially available next year. No value has been announced for this project.
[1999/10/19]

Penguin To Release Classic eBook CD

Oct. 14, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Penguin Books Ltd. and Microsoft Corp. have announced that they will create and distribute an eBook CD containing "a selection from Penguin Classics" and the Microsoft(R) Reader.
[1999/10/19]

Clearnet Announces 99 Q3 Subcribers

Oct. 13, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Clearnet Communications Inc. has announced its 1999 Q3 subscriber numbers.

                     3 Months Ended     3 Months Ended
                     Sept. 30, 1999     Sept. 30, 1998
Digital
 - Net Subscriber
   additions                 56,205             48,148
 - total subscribers
   end of period            464,708            242,703
 - churn per month
 (after 30 day
 guarantee)                    1.81%              1.61%
Mike
 - Net Subscriber
   additions                 23,505             13,650
 - total subscribers
   end of period            176,335             87,743
 - churn per month
 (after 30 day
 guarantee)                    1.59%              1.33%
PCS
 - Net Subscriber
   additions                 32,700             34,498
 - total subscribers
   end of period            288,373            154,960
 - churn per month
 (after 30 day
 guarantee)                    1.95%              1.76%

Analogue SMR net
subscriber additions         (4,375)             (5,263)

Total Net Subscriber
additions                    51,830              42,885

[1999/10/19]

Motorola And AOL Working On Wireless Instant Messenger

Oct. 13, 1999, Reuters reports that Motorola Inc. and America Online Inc have announced that they will develop the AOL Instant Messenger software for Motorola's wireless devices such as the Timeport P1088 smart phone and the Timeport P930 two-way pager.
[1999/10/19]

Oct. 13, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Network Associates Inc.'s NAI Labs "Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team" (AVERT) has assessed the Melissa.U and Melissa.V viruses as "medium risk." They spread rapidly via E-Mail and delete data. They arrive via E-Mail. The viruses are in infected "Word" attachments. For Melissa.U, the title is "pictures" and the body will say "what's up?" The NORMAL.DOT file will be infected. A MAPI email client is invoked and mail is sent to the first 4 email addresses (can include distribution lists). Then the following files are deleted: c:\command.com, c:\io.sys, d:\command.com, d:\io.sys, d:\Ntdetect.com, c:\Suhdlog.dat, and d:\Suhdlog.dat. This renders the system inoperable.

For Melissa.V the title will be "My Pictures" and the body will be blank. The MAPI client sends infected E-Mail to the first 40 addresses in the Address Book. Then directories and files are deleted with the following letters in this order: M, N, O, P, Q, S, F, I, X, Z, H, L.

http://www.nai.com/
http://www.McAfee.com/
[1999/10/19]

Computer Paper Nov. Issue Features The Web And Mobile Tech

The November Issue:

This month's issue of the computer paper is focused on handheld technology and the Internet. I have two articles on Psion products, there is a large article comparing a number of handheld computers, the Handspring Visor and the Psion Revo are both mentioned, there is a unique long term report on the Sharp Mobilon HC-4500, and more.

November Issue of Computer Paper: http://www.tcp.ca/1999/9911/toc/

First Report on Psion netBook

My first article for the issue is a brief report on the newly announced Psion "netBook".

netBook announcement: http://www.tcp.ca/1999/9911/handheld/psion/psion.html

Psion Series 5mx Review

My second article is a review of the Psion Series 5mx. The final edit has some problems, but unlike the "Palm v. daVinci" article I mentioned earlier, I currently don't feel the problems are sufficient for me to request a correction. However, I'll comment on some of the more noticeable issues.

Psion Series 5mx Review: http://www.tcp.ca/1999/9911/handheld/psion5mx/psion5mx.html

Article Title On Web Page: "Survivor of pocket World War I" "Psion Series 5mx a handheld computer without peer"

Comment: I didn't really like my original title, which was was "Psion Series 5mx: Peerless Survivor of Pocket World War I". If I'd had more time I probably would have changed it. The magazine dropped the "Survivor of Pocket World War I" completely, and I think that was the best version.

Article: "Basic specifications Size: 17 x 9 x 2.3 cm (6.63 x 3.51 x 0.9 in.)"

Comment: I measured the thickness of the Series 5mx as 26.5 mm. The difference is due to the rubber feet, which Psion didn't include. As far as I'm concerned, these measurements are understood to mean "overall" dimensions, not "average thickness." An independent magazine should publish what the reader wants, not what the manufacturers PR department wants.

Article: "Batteries: two AA, or one CR-2032"

Comment: The Series 5mx uses 2 AA main batteries and 1 CR-2032 as a backup battery. I suppose, in truth you really could use even the 1 CR-2032 alone, just to hold data for a while, so it's not technically an incorrect statement, but. . . .

Article: "Infrared beaming Using the Series 5mx's infrared feature, I transferred files to and from a Palm IIIx, an NEC MP-400, and a Compaq C Series 2010c. So while transfers of simple text files to and from the Palm IIIx all failed, I succeeded in beaming individual Contact items in both directions."

Comment: This one is partly my fault. What I originally wrote was that "Beaming cross-platform was tested to and from a Palm IIIx and Windows CE 2.0 in an NEC MP-400 and a Compaq C Series 2010c. The Series 5mx supports vCard, vCalendar, IrOrbex standards. So while transfers of simple text files all failed, using the latest Palm IIIx, I succeeded in beaming individual Contact items in both directions." Aside from the obvious grammar error in the 2nd sentence, I thought I'd said clearly enough that the test was conducted with the various mentioned computers -- not that the test was successful. In fact, as the 3rd sentence points out, the transfers of simple text files all failed. The poor writing was a result of my trying to shorten the report which originally included a list of all the transfer attempts in a table with the word "failed" repeated for each attempt. I decided the table was a waste of space. Unfortunately, I did a bad job of editing, and the copy editor was justifiably confused.

This raises an interesting point about beaming: Although you can't directly beam a simple text file between a Series 5mx an a Palm IIIx, you *can* copy/paste a short text note into a text attachment for a "Contact" or "agenda" item and then beam it between the devices. There is probably a size limit to this, but you have people with whom you want to share short messages with, you could keep a "Contact" item named "beaming dummy" handy for such transfers.



Article: "Psion 5mx speed tests
Display response test   Psion        Psion      Compaq    NEC
                        Series 5mx   Series 5   C-Series  MP-400
                                                2010
 HTML page render time
 (sec.):                 44.8        77.0        15.8      42.6
 JPEG render time
 (sec.):                381.2        NA           9.2      15.5
Notes:
. . .
While testing the browser on random pages it became apparent that JPEG rendering was disproportionately long. Psion is aware of the problem and a solution should be coming shortly."


Comment: After this article was submitted for publication, Psion posted an updated browser to its Website. I tested the JPEG render time of the new browser and it gave an average render time of 24.2 sec. which is closer to its render speed for GIF files.

Article: "Contact find:
                    Psion
                    Series 5mx  Palm IIIx 
 File size (KB)     311         124
 6 char., 1 found
 (sec.)             3.4         3.1
 6 char., 8 found
 (sec.)             3.8         3.7
 4 char., 16 found
 (sec.)             4.2         3.8
Notes:
The comparison is with the Palm IIIx running PalmOS 3.1.1 software and based on a 760-record file. Times are for global searches. . . . Roughly 97 percent of the record information was identical, beamed directly from the Palm IIIx to the Series 5mx, and then compressed. The larger file size of the Series 5mx is due to the difference in file formats."


Comment: The point of this test is partly lost because of my inability to provide test results from the Windows CE devices. However, according to experiences reported in the newsgroups, including those by reputable writers who favour the Windows CE platform, such searches on Windows CE are far longer than the Palm IIIx -- possibly more than 60 times longer. The Series 5mx however, is right in the Palm IIIx speed range. This test will not be directly repeated in future reviews because the test file was my actual personal contact list which is in constant flux. I'm hoping to develop a more permanent test procedure for future reports.
[1999/10/17]

In The News Oct. 9 - 12, 1999

Bell Mobility PCS Provides iMoney Access

Oct. 12, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Bell Mobility has announced that Bell Mobility Mobile Browser-enabled Digital PCS users will have access it financial information from iMoney "this week."
[1999/10/16]

Dell Finances Samsung LCD For Guaranteed Supply

Oct. 12, 1999, Eric Auchard writes for Reuters that Dell Computer Corp. has bought $200 million US in convertible bonds from Samsung Electronics as part of a 5 year supply deal worth about $8.5 billion US. Samsung will use the money to increase LCD production. The deal is non-exclusive, but Dell expects preferential treatment.
[1999/10/16]

Nokia To License Palm Software

Oct. 12, 1999, Associated Press reported that Nokia was rumoured to be in talks to license 3Com's Palm Computing software for portable phones. [In fact, as I write this, an announcement has been made, but the situation is not quite the correct. The official announcement was that PalmOS and Symbian EPOC would both be used in these device. There is a lot about this plan that has not been made clear yet.]
[1999/10/16]

DRAM Sold Out

Oct. 11, 1999, Jack Robertson writes for Electronic Buyers' News that DRAM is now essentially "sold out" for 1999 Q4 and shortages of all types of RAM are being predicted for Q1 of 2000.
[1999/10/16]

Compaq Brings GSM To Aero

Oct. 11, 1999, Business Wire reports that Compaq has announced its "Aero GSM Connectivity Suite" which allows a Compaq Aero palm-size PC to be used with a GSM mobile phone to access Internet-based data. The kit supports "Internet and email, . . . the Web . . . WAP send and receive faxes and SMS messages."

http://vcmproapp04.compaq.com/telecom99/press.html
[1999/10/16]

IBM And Nokia Partner To Promote Mobile E-Commerce

Oct. 11, 1999, IBM and Nokia announced a global partnership to develop and market WAP systems. IBM will market and distribute Nokia WAP Server software on PC servers and license Nokia core WAP technology for integration with other IBM server platforms.

http://www.wapforum.org/
http://www.nokia.com/corporate/wap/
[1999/10/16]

Motorola Still Leader In Microcontrollers

Oct. 11, 1999, Business Wire reports that according to Dataquest's "1998 Microcontroller Market Share and Unit Shipments" report, Motorola is still the leader in microcontrollers with top position in four categories: "microcontroller revenue market share" (18%), revenue from 8-bit microcontrollers" (25.2%), "unit shipment of microcontrollers" (15.5%), and "unit shipment of 8-bit microcontrollers" (22.6%). Motorola's 1998 worldwide semiconductor sales were $7.3 billion US.
[1999/10/16]

Puma Synching Via Web Portal Coming

Oct. 11, 1999, Guy Middleton writes for TechWeb that Puma Technology has announced plans to provide a Web-based synchronization service based on its proprietary Intellisync technology early next year. The service will allow users to synchronize data between handheld computers, phones and pagers.
[1999/10/16]

Telecom 99: Handheld Devices "Spur" Internet Boom?

Oct. 10, 1999, Associated Press reports that according to government and business leaders speaking at the United Nations sponsored Telecom 99, "The boom of the Internet will be further fueled by newer, cheaper browsing devices. . . [and] industry investments that will greatly expand transmission capacity." According to Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM, "there will be 600 million PCs in the world by 2003, but . . . they would be joined by more than 2 billion handheld devices and many billions of card, TVs, tools, appliances and vending machines all on the internet."

Announcements included Nokia Corp.'s WAP based 7110 handset which should be available to some consumers in Europe within the next few weeks and in the US next year, Alcatel who will market a WAP mobile phone in "mid-October".
[1999/10/16]

Embedded 64-bit Coming

Oct. 9, 1999, Mark Hachman writes for Electronic Buyers News, Oct. 4, 1999, that Microprocessor Forum was expected to be dominated by powerful embedded processors, and particularly 64-bit processors by Hitachi Ltd. and ST Microelectronics sharing the SH-5, and by MIPS TEchnologies Inc. with its MIPS64 5Kc. Also expected were IBM Microelectronics, expected to show its PowerPC 440 (32-bit core) and National Semiconductor Corp. describing its SC1400 version of its Geode. Hitachi and ST Microelectronics will be producing the SH-5 using 0.15-micron standard CMOS process, in the 2nd half of 2000. The core is rated at 400MHz (scaleable to 650MHz), with 604 Dhrystone 2.1 mips, consuming less than 1 W at 1.5V. A key addition to SH-5 will be a set of multimedia instructions. SH-4 will also be made using this process. The MIPS 64 5Kc claims 1,200 mips/W performance. 300 - 375 MHz versions are expected by the end of this year. IBM's 440 will use IBM's 0.18-micron copper-interconnect process. The "dual-issue" seven-stage pipeline will achieve around 400 - 555-MHz speeds, yielding around 1,000 Dhrystone 2.1 mips at 555MHz.
[1999/10/16]

In The News Oct. 5 - 9, 1999

Philips Drops Windows CE Handhelds

Oct. 8, 1999, Guy Middleton writes for TechWeb that Philips has announced that it is planning to cease production of Windows CE handheld computers due to poor sales. Philips has recently announced that it will licence Phone.com's WAP browser, but has not said what OS it will run on.
[1999/10/12]

More LCD Shortages

Oct. 8, 1999, Jack Robertson writes For Electronic Buyers' News that according to DisplaySearch, LCD manufacturers will only meet about 86% of demand for TFT-LCD screens for laptop computers this year. Furthermore, the shortage is expect to continue into 2000 which will result in only 93% of demand being filled. However, an oversupply condition is expected in 2001.
[1999/10/12]

WinNT.Infis Virus Uses NT Built In Security Against Itself

Oct. 7, 1999, Business Wire reports that Central Command and Kaspersky Lab have announced the discovery of a Windows NT virus called "WinNT.Infis" which is the first computer virus found "in-the-wild" that integrates into the highest security level of the Windows NT operating system. The virus acts as a "Windows NT driver" and is file infecting. It attacks Windows NT 4.0 with Service Packs 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 installed, but not Windows 95, 98, 2000 or other versions of Windows NT. Signs of the virus are the file "INF.SYS" in "/WinNT/System32/Drivers" and the inability to run some popular applications such as MSPAINT.EXE, CALC.EXE and CDPLAYER.EXE. Detection and removal has been added to AntiViral Toolkit Pro (AVP).

http://www.avp.com/
[1999/10/12]

Quicknet PC-Card Brings Internet Phone To Laptops

Oct. 7, 1999, Business Wire reports that Quicknet Technologies, Inc. has announced its Internet PhoneCARD Type II PCMCIA card with hardware compression for full duplex voice over IP. The card requires a Pentium 133MHz or faster CPU, and Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4 or Linux OS. It will be available in November for $159.95 US.

http://www.quicknet.net/
[1999/10/12]

IBM Announces Travelstar E External HD

Oct. 7, 1999, Business Wire reports that IBM has introduced its new Travelstar E external HD which uses a standard PC-Card interface and gives 10GB. IBM claims that the external drive is more rugged than standard internal drives. Available later this month for the US market, the prices are $449 US for 8GB or $549 US for 10GB.

IBM also announced a new record for storage density with its achieving 35.3 billion bits per square inch on a magnetic HD.

http://www.ibm.com/harddrive/
[1999/10/12]

BP Amoco, Exxon and Chevron Warn Of Fire Danger Of Wireless Phones

Oct. 7, 1999, Marguerite Nugent writes for Reuters that BP Amoco Plc., Exxon Corp. and Chevron Corp. have said that they will put up signs warning of the possibility of starting fires if wireless phones are used near gas pumps. The warnings have been contained in the phone manuals for years, and it is now an issue in Europe.

For the record, I have had shocks from the antenna of my Sony CDMA handset. I expect this is relatively rare, but over time, I also expect that most people will experience them. While there has never been an instance of a fire confirmed to have been caused by a cell phone, a spark is a spark, and if you understand the laws of probability, and gaseous solutions, you will know that it is possible that such a fire might occur, and in time, it will probably eventually occur. It's not as dangerous as lighting a cigarette around a gas pump, but then again, I've seen people who do that as well. So while some people will make fun of the situation, I think the gas station companies are doing the right thing.
[1999/10/12]

Webraska Obtains Patent For Wireless Navigation Service

Oct. 7, 1999, Canadian Corporate News reports that Webraska Mobile Technologies SA has announced that it has been awarded a Patent for "an interactive process for use as a nagivational aid and device for its implimentation." According to the article, "the invention relates to a system to be used as a navigation aid comprising a mobile terminal wirelessly linked to a centralised server, and mroe specifically to the improvements required to convert a mobile phone into a complete and precise navigational aid system."

http://www.webraska.com/press/99-0ct-06-IbDN-eng.html
[1999/10/12]

Ericsson Canada And Microcell Claim First WCDMA 1900 Multimedia Call

Oct. 7, 1999, Canadian Corporate News reports that Ericsson Canada, Microcell Connexions and Telesystems International Wireless (TIW) claim to have used Ericsson's WCDMA 3rd generation wireless system for a multimedia conversation.

http://www.ericsson.se/pressroom/
[1999/10/12]

Bell Mobility Add POP3 Mail To Internet PCS Services

Oct. 6, 1999, BCE Emergis reports that Bell Mobility has added the ability to access E-Mail from standard POP3 accounts through its "Mobile Browser" service. The "Mobile Browser" service was originally announced in May 1999, providing Web type content through "sympatico.ca" or other "wireless enabled" sites. Handsets currently supported include Qualcomm QCP2700 or QCP2700F. The Nokia 6165 and Neopoint will also be "Mobile Browser-enabled" in the future. There is no monthly service charge, but customers are charged $0.15/min., billed by the second. [It is unclear in the article whether this means that the charge mentioned is on top of the normal contract fees. Also, although it does not say so in this article, the "Mobile Browser" service was a WAP service.]
[1999/10/12]

Motorola Announces "Mobile Internet Exchange"

Oct. 6, 1999, Business Wire reports that Motorola, Inc. has introducted its "Mobile Internet Exchange(TM) (MIX) communications platform by which Motorola claims, "mobile consumers can obtain necessary information anywhere via the Internet." According to Maria Martinez, general manager and vice president, Motorola Internet and Connectivity Solutions Division (ICSD) "Motorola expects that by 2005, one billion people will be using the Internet and accessing it from wireless connections."

http://www.Motorola-MIX.com/
[1999/10/12]

Rogers Cantel Pays For Referals

Oct. 6, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Rogers Cantel Inc. has announced that it has signed over 50,000 subscriptions for Cantel AT&T Pay As You Go service since its July introduction. The company has announced a limited time promotion to expand on this. For every new subscriber referred, Cantel will give a current user $25 of free airtime.
[1999/10/12]

Psion Announces Revo

Oct. 4, 1999, Psion has launched its new pocket sized handheld computer the "Revo". Based on a 36MHz ARM 170 RISC core and Symbian EPOC Release 5 software, the Revo costs $399 US.

http://www.psionusa.com/

http://www.psion.com/revo/
[1999/10/09]

In The News Oct. 2 - 5, 1999

VTech e-Mail Express and e-Mail PostBox Use New Nat-Semi CPU

Oct. 5, 1999, Business Wire reports that according to National Semiconductor Corporation, VTech Industries two new information appliances, the "VTech e-Mail Express(TM)" and "e-Mail PostBox(TM)" both use the National(R) Geode(TM) NSC1028 16 bit RISC processor. The Express is hand holdable and weighs 7 oz. and costs $79.99 US. The PostBox features a "full size" keyboard and costs $99.99 US. VTech also provides email services for these devices at $10.00 US per month.

http://vtechworld.com/
[1999/10/09]

AMD Goes Own Way For 64-Bit

Oct. 5, 1999, Business Wire reports that AMD has unveiled its plans for coming 64-bit processors. Instead of using the Intel Merced instruction set model AMD has announced a new instruction set which will be an extension of the current "x86" instruction set, including the current instructions. The eighth generation processor is currently code named "Sledgehammer." AMD also announced work on a new chip-to-chip system buss called Lightning Data Transport (LDT) which will support speeds up to 6.4 GB/sec., far advanced over current interconnects which reach up to 266 MB/sec.
http://www.amd.com/
[1999/10/09]

Seibel Announces Sales Apps For Windows CE

Oct. 5, 1999, Scott Tiazkun writes for Computer Reseller News that Seibel Systems has announced that it will release a series of sales support applications for Windows CE. The first part is, "Siebel Sales Handheld software". Information will synchronize with major database systems. [It is unclear whether this software is immediately available, but the cost is $1,000 US.]
[1999/10/09]

HP Introduces PH Pavilion Notebook PC

Oct. 4, 1999, Business Wire reports that Hewlett-Packard Company has introduced its first "retail" laptop Windows computer, the "HP Pavilion Notebook PC." The distinction between a "retail" product and a "business" product is mainly a question to whom HP will sell it and to a lesser extent, what comes with it as a standard part of the package. There is a set of included software packages that HP seems to believe would be of general interest (including Internet software, Quicken BASIC 99, Microsoft Money 99, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopaedia 99, Microsoft Works, Rand McNally Route Planner and Outlook Express).

HP Pavilion notebook PC: Intel(R) Celeron(TM) 433MHz CPU, 4GB HD, 32MB SDRAM, Silicon Motion Lynx video graphics accelerator, 12.1" HPA display, 24X CD-ROM drive, 56K v.90 modem, estimated street price $1,399 US.
[1999/10/09]

Point of Sale Comes To PalmOS

Oct. 4, 1999, Business Wire reports that Evolv Adaptive Technology has released a trial version of its point of sale software for the PalmOS devices called "Skipjack Runabout".

http://www.skipjackic.com/palm/
[1999/10/09]

IBM Transcoder Shrinks Internet Data Transmissions

Oct. 2, 1999, Responsive Database Services reports that according to Network World, Sept. 27, 1999, IBM is developing software that reduces data transmissions on the internet. [This is a filtering system which will, for example reduce a colour JPEG image to a monochrome, reducing the file size.]
[1999/10/09]

Apology For the Delay

Sorry for the delay of this posting, but I was actually waiting for another announcement which has not arrived. Next time. . . .
[1999/10/06]

3Com Announces Palm Vx, New Appearance Kit for Palm III Series And Lower Prices

Oct. 4, 1999, - 3Com Canada Inc. has announced immediate availability its new Palm Vx.

Palm Vx: 8MB of memory, faster HotSync synchronization speed, synchronize data between the product's infrared port and the infrared port on a desktop or laptop computer, estimated street price of $679 Cdn.

3Com has also announced "The Palm Colour Shades Kit," a new accessory kit for its Palm III family devices which includes flip covers, in translucent lime, blue and aqua, plus three black stylii and is available at retail outlets for $19.95 Cdn.

3Com has also announced the following estimated street prices: Palm V $579 Cdn (down from $679), Palm IIIx $449 Cdn (down from $549 Cdn), and the Palm IIIe $279 (down from $329 Cdn).
[1999/10/04]

3Com Expands Availability of Palm VII

Oct. 4, 1999, 3Com has announced Palm VII availability across the continental US. The Palm VII also now features a new "expanded monthly service plan" for heavy users and third-party applications allowing users to connect to a variety of e-mail systems via their Palm VII organizers. 3Com also has announced that the Palm VII will be launched in Canada in 2000 and is expected to retail for less $900 Cdn.
[1999/10/06]

In The News Sept. 28 - Oct. 2, 1999

Dell Adds Colour Case To Laptop Computers

Oct. 1, 1999, Associated Press reports that Dell has added Tahoe Blue and Storm Gray options for Inspiron laptop computers.
[1999/10/04]

US Wireless PCS Additions Top Cellular For First Time

Oct. 1, 1999, Business Wire reports that according to Telecompetition Inc., Personal Communication Services (PCS) mid year "net additions" surpassed net additions for cellular providers for the first time. The company projects that by the end of 1999, PCS will hold 23% of the 96 million US wireless subscribers.
[1999/10/04]

Kodak and Sanyo Develop Active-Matrix Organic LED Display Panel

Oct. 1, 1999, Yoshiko Hara writes for EE Times that Eastman Kodak and Sanyo Electric have jointly developed a 2.4" 852 * 222 pixel colour active-matrix organic LED display panel. Sanyo is not planning volume production till 2001. The companies have also shown a prototype of a 1.3" colour passive organic LED which will be marketed in 2000. Sanyo expects sales for the passive display to be in the cellular telephone market.
[1999/10/04]

IBM Adds Colour Covers For "ThinkPad i" and Lighted Keyboards

Sept. 30, 1999, Reuters reports that IBM has announced coloured covers for the "ThinkPad i" series laptop computers. Retailing at $29.99 US, the covers include Mars red metallic, Terra green metallic, Andromeda, and Sirius red and Polaris blue.

IBM also announced illuminated keyboards for ThinkPad 1460 and 1480 for low light usage.
[1999/10/04]

HP Reduces Price of CD-Writer Plus M820e Portable Drive

Sept. 30, 1999, Business Wire reports that Hewlett-Packard Company has announced a price reduction for its HP CD-Writer Plus M820e portable "re-writable" drive which writes at 4x and reads at 20x. Estimated street price is $399 US down from $599 US.
[1999/10/04]

Clearnet Enhances PCS Plans

Sept. 29, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Clearnet Communications Inc. has announced enhancements to its wireless PCS service plans. For an added $5 per month users will now have an extra 100 minutes per month. All previously included features are unchanged.
[1999/10/04]

In The News Sept. 25 - 28, 1999

Fidomatic Retooled With More Minutes and Voice Messaging

Sept. 28, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Microcell Solutions Inc. has announced changes to its prepaid Fidomatic(TM) PCS service. As a "promotion", beginning Oct. 1, 1999, a $50 (Cdn) prepaid airtime voucher will be worth 225 minutes instead of 142 minutes and a $25 (Cdn) prepaid airtime voucher will be worth 100 minutes instead of 71 minutes. This promotion will run to Dec. 31, 1999 or while voucher supplies last. Vouchers are valid for 60 days.

New to the Fidomatic offering is a "pay-per-use Personal Voice Messaging" option. Message (up to one minute in length) in the voice mailbox will be charged at the regular airtime rate plus $0.15/min. to retrieve the message. Numeric messaging is also included. Fidomatic also includes Call Waiting, Call Forwarding and airtime calculated to the minute.

A starter package costs $125 including a Mitsubishi handset ($50), a smart card ($25) and a $50 prepaid airtime voucher. According to Microcell, the battery allows up to 5 hours of talk time.
[1999/10/02]

HP ChaiVM 4.0 Has Enhanced Real-Time Performance

Sept. 28, 1999, Business Wire report that Hewlett-Packard Company has announced it Chai Appliance Platform which includes ChaiVM 4.0, "a scalable virtual machine for Java(TM) applications" which has new features for improved "real-time" performance.
[1999/10/02]

LapLink: New Product And New Name

Sept. 28, 1999, Stuart Glascock writes for TechWeb that Traveling Software has changed its name to LapLink.com and released its new "LapLink 2000". The new product is available now for $169.00 US for Windows 3.1, 95, 98 and NT systems. New features include "dual-level encryption, lock-out protection, case-sensitive passwords, and folder-level security." Also supported is concurrent voice-over IP for two way voice connection simultaneously with computer connection over a single telephone line.
[1999/10/02]

Compaq Announces New Versions Presario 1800 and 1600 Laptops

Sept. 27, 1999, Business Wire reports that Compaq Computer Corporation has announced two new Presario laptop computers:

Presario 1800T, Intel Celeron 466MHz CPU, 6X-DVD drive, 18GB HD starting at $1,999 US.

Presario1600s, 14.1" TFT display, AMDK-2 400MHz (up to 475MHz optional) starting at $1,799 US.

[1999/10/02]

Nat Semi Alliance With QNX For Information Appliance Market

Sept. 27, 1999, Business Wire reports that National Semiconductor and QNX Software Systems have announced an alliance for pursuing the information appliance market. They intend to co-develop a series of reference platforms. Their first product, the WebPAD SDK is available now in limited quantities.

http://www.national.com/webpad/
[1999/10/02]

In The News Sept. 21 - 25, 1999

DSP Comm Announces Advanced CDMA Chipset

Sept. 25, 1999, Responsive Database Services reports that Loring Wirbel wrote for Electronic Engineering Times, Sept. 20, 1999, that DSP Communications Inc. would show its "sixth generation" CDMA chipset at the New Orleans PCS show. The D6011 implements the full Phase One 1XRTT standards for cdma2000. It uses an ARM7TDMI RISC core and DSP Communications' Teak DSP core.
[1999/09/28]

Taiwan Quake Damage To Computer Industry Extensive

Sept. 24, 1999, George Leopold and Rick Merritt write for Semiconductor Business News that the damage caused by the Taiwan earthquake is being estimated at $300 million US. AMD is being affected because boards using its new Athlon chip are being delayed. GVC and Microstar have halted production of the Athlon boards and First International Computer is running at 60% capacity, leaving FIC as the only full capacity producer. According to the article, Taiwan produces 13 - 15% of the world's semiconductors, 80% of PC motherboards, 2/3rds of the wafers (silicon) and 5 - 6% of the DRAM. The articles says that "[A]ccording to Taiwan's Institute of Information Industry, total hardware production topped $33 billion [US] in 1998."
[1999/09/28]

New Motorola V700 Word Message Pager Links To Web

Sept. 23, 1999, Business Wire reports that Motorola has introduced its new V700 word message pager is able to receive full text messages from the Internet or from E-Mail servers. The V700 is available in FLEX(R) and POCSAG protocol versions. and will cost about $150 US and is available through paging service providers.
[1999/09/28]

Motorola Introduces "Timeport(TM) Collection" Phone and Pager Lineup

Sept. 22, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Motorola has announced a series of wireless communications products they call the "Motorola Timeport collection. Included are digital wireless phones P8160 and P8167 which feature internet capabilities, P8097 which is a dual band/dual mode TDMO 800/1900 and AMPS handset, the Timeport Clip-On Organizer, Timeport P730 Information Pager text pager which can receive personal pages and information services, P730 graphics pager, Timeport P930 Two-Way pager.
[1999/09/28]

Motorola Introduces "TalkAbout" Series of Wireless Products

Sept. 22, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Motorola has announced its new "TalkAbout(R)" series of wireless communications products which includes wireless phones, pagers and two-way radios. The newest product is the T289 two-way radio which operates on the "Family Radio Service" frequency, having a range of up to two miles depending on conditions.
[1999/0928]

In The News Sept. 18 - 21, 1999

Motorola Introduces Internet Based Upgradeability In New iDEN Digital Phones

Sept. 21, 1999, Business Wire reports that Motorola has announced that beginning in Q1, 2000, "iDEN(R) plus" series telephone handsets introduced in 1999, will be upgradeable for new features by downloading programs from the internet to a local PC and then installing the programs from the PC into the handset. Motorola has also introduced an SDK to help develop software to interface iDEN handsets with Palm(TM) connected organizers, Windows CE devices and PCs.
[1999/09/25]

Bell Mobility Announces "Solo" Prepaid Package

Sept. 21, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that Bell Mobility has launched its new "SOLO" prepaid package. Prices start at $99 Cdn. The package contains one of three possible phones, a T-shirt, battery, charger, a prepaid start-up card with 20 min. of talk time and a manual. The phones are flip phones with vibrating alert, belt clip and headset. The phones are Motorola DPC650e for $99, Motorola StarTAC 3000 for $179 or Nokia 282 for $229. Talk time costs $0.35 per minute for local calls and and added $0.35 per minute for long distance calls to Canada and the United States.
[1999/09/25]

HoboMail Connects Palm VII To POP3 Accounts

Sept. 21, 1999, PR Newswire reports that EMUmail's Hobomail.com site can be used by Palm VII users as a proxy to access POP3 based email accounts. The service is provided for free, but will not be acceptable for those who need strict security. For those people who want or need strict security, the HoboServer system is available for $1,250 US and is available for Windows NT or Unix systems.

http://www.hobomail.com/
[1999/09/25]

Open eBook Group Releases Final Version of Spec

Sept. 21, 1999, PR Newswire reports that the Open eBook (OEB) Authoring Group has released the final version of Open eBook Publication Structure 1.0.

http://www.openebook.org/
also see:
The Electronic Book '99 Conference http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/ebook99/
[1999/09/25]

SnapTrack Claims Proven FCC "Wireless Safety" Compliance For CDMA Systems

Sept. 21, 1999, Canadian Corporate News reports that SnapTrack, Inc. has announced that it has proven by independently audited tests that its Enhanced GPS(TM) systems are capable of meeting US FCC "wireles public safety" requirements.
[1999/09/25]

Will Taiwan Earthquake Affect Computer Industry?

Sept. 20, 1999, Mark Hachman and Andrew MacLellan writes for Electronic Buyers' News that early reports from the earthquake in Taiwan appear to show that no serious harm was done to "brick and mortar" facilities of Taiwan's semiconductor industry but electrical outages [and, one expects, human injury] may cause problems.
[1999/09/25]

Compaq Announces Thinnest Windows CE Handheld Aero 1530

Sept. 20, 1999, Business Wire reports that Compaq Computer Corporation has introduced its new Aero(R) 1530 palm-size handheld Windows CE based computer.

Aero 1530: 16 levels grey display, 12.7mm (0.5") thick, less than 5 oz., 14 hrs. use Lithium-Ion battery, QMenu, QUtilities and File Explorer software, available immediately at $299 US including docking cradle.
[1999/09/25]

Compaq Announces New High End Aero 2180 Colour Palm Size Computer And Price Reductions

Sept. 20, 1999, Business Wire reports that Compaq Computer Corporation has introduced its new Aero(R) 2180 colour palm-size computer.

Aero 2180: 64K colours reflective TFT display, 24MB memory, QMenu, QUtilities, File Explorer software, available immediately at $449 US with docking cradle.

Compaq has also announced price reductions for the Aero 2110 ($369 US down from $399 US) and the Aero 2150 ($399 US down from $499 US).
[1999/09/25]

IBM Launches ThinkPad 390X with 15" LCD Display

Sept. 20, 1999, Business Wire reports that IBM has announced its new ThinkPad 390X portable computer that features a 15" LCD display, a user upgradeable "all in one" design and a low price of $1,999 US. Processors available are the Intel(R) Mobile Pentium(R) II 400MHz or Intel Mobile Celeron(TM) at 400MHz.
[1999/09/25]

Mainbrace Hopes To Commoditize WinCE

Sept. 20, 1999, Junko Yoshida writes for EE Times that a start-up company, Mainbrace is launching a "ready - to - manufacture" Windows CE based Portable Data Terminal (PDT) platform called the FastTrack PDT. According to Thomas Wong, president of Mainbrace "OEMs can put a new embedded system on their production line within eight to 12 weeks." Based on an ARM720 32-bit RISC CPU and a 320 * 240 monochrome display with touchscreen, the product is already found its first customer, Askey International which is developing its palm-size PC product "MobileLink" based on this platform.
[1999/09/25]

In The News Sept. 14 - 18, 1999

French Government Investigating Microsoft Business Practices

Sept. 17, 1999, Associated Press reports that the French Finance Minister has said that the French antitrust, fraud and market surveillance agencies are investigating complaints against business practices of Microsoft Corp. following complaints from French consumers who say they don't want to be forced to buy Microsoft Windows every time they buy a computer.
[1999/09/21]

Variety Is Trend For Future Mobile IT

Sept. 16, 1999, Madeleine Acey writes for TechWeb that at Sun's ".com conference and exhibition" the major theme was "[a] different Internet-linked appliance for every occasion is coming in the near future. . . ."

[I'm going to take a moment to comment about what Ms. Acey felt came out of the conference. First, this site attempts to integrate the developments in the real world and put them in perspective by applying my own theories of optimization. Over the years I have stated principles such as "one size doesn't fit all" and the goal of "having information, where you want it, when you want it, in a form you want it, at an acceptable cost." I have never believed that the Internet is necessarily the best approach, nor do I believe that "mobile IT" is necessarily the best approach. All possibilities should be explored. Anyway, let's look at this:

According to a panel chaired by John Gage, "[t]he future fo personal computing is not about choosing between a PC or a thin Internet Appliance, but between services at different times and locations for different needs and network connectivity." I disagree. This is a narrow minded approach. See above comment re. "information, where you want it. . . ."

Per Juha Christensen of Symbian, "[c]ommon protocols and cheap development technology will reach a billion handheld networked devices in use by 2003." Maybe true. I give out numbers like this, assuming I feel they are reasonably believable, because readers like them and businesses need them for planning. Personally I don't care about them. I care about what *I* buy and find useful.

Per Geoffrey Baehr "What will really drive this year is protocols . . . . People have realized it's an IP world." He also mentions Bluetooth as a cheap network. Well this is sort of right and wrong. Protocols are important, but end users really care about what protocol is used yet. End users care about services and products that work -- that do what they want. What the end user will want is "information, where you want it, . . . ."

Per Christensen of Symbian on multiple devices "[y]ou might see people using a small device they can stick in their jeans for going out to dinner and a bigger one for taking notes in meetings. This is not a one-size-fits-all market." Well, I clearly agree with that.

Per Daryl Plummer refering to a specific example he gave, "[t]he device would be less interesting to the user than the service." I think that's how most people look at all this technology. [1999/09/18]

IBM Linux ThinkPads Coming

Sept. 15, 1999, Larry Greenemeier writes for Information Week that IBM's ThinkPad 600E has become the first mobile computer certified by Red Hat Software to run Red Hat Linux 6.0. According to Tim Eades, customer-segment marketing manager for the worldwide ThinkPad brand, IBM plans further announcements for more versions of Linux (including Caldera Systems, TurboLinux and SuSe) and on more ThinkPad models.
[1999/09/21]

Compaq Presario 300 Series An Internet "Mini-Notebook"

Sept. 15, 1999, Business Wire reports that Compaq Computer Corporation has introduced its Presario 300 Series portable computer, which the article calls an "Internet mini-notebook PC". Compaq also announced a "USB home phoneline networking adapter for notebooks enabling consumers to network Presario notebooks and desktops throughout the home."

Presario 300 Series: Intel Mobile Celeron CPU, 64MB RAM, 56Kbps modem, Compaq Internet Zone, 3.08 lbs., prices start at $2,199 US.
[1999/09/21]

Compaq Launches "HomeFree Phoneline USB network Adapter"

Sept. 15, 1999, Business Wire reports that Compaq has announced the "HomeFree Phoneline USB network adapter" by Diamond Multimedia. Based on the HomePNA network standard it is priced at $69.95 and intended for use with Presario portable computers.
[1999/09/21]

Correction: "Palm Files lawsuits to protect turf" -- The Computer Paper, Oct. 1999

The October 1999 issue of "The Computer Paper" published by Canada Computer Paper Inc. has my article "Palm files lawsuits to protect turf." This article can be found at:

http://www.tcp.ca/1999/9910/news/palm/palm.html
Unfortunately, there was a serious problem with the final copy edit of the article. In the printed version and the current version on the Website the 2nd last paragraph says:
"Even though sales of the daVinci are temporarily blocked, Palm is facing challenges by several new and improved Windows CE devices. Among them are the eDiary by FUGA Corp. (http://www.fuga.com), the Helio by VTech Information (http://www.vtechinfo.com/) and the OSPro by Oregon Scientific (http://www.oregonscientific/)."
What I originally wrote was:
"Even if the daVinci is not available for September Palm will face challenges by new competitors and improved Windows CE devices. Among the new competitors are the 'eDiary' by FUGA Corporation, the 'Helio' by VTech Information and the "OSPro" by Oregon Scientific."

Whomever did the copy edit missed the significance of this paragraph completely and wrote a factually wrong version. The significance of the paragraph is that none of the products mentioned were Windows CE. This shows that these are a broad, expanding range of competitors with new software bases, arguably more competitive in this market against Palm than Windows CE was. We are looking at a growing market undergoing an expansion something like the original 8-bit home computer market of the early '80s rather than a consolidating market.

I have requested the following changes to the Web version of the article:

  1. In the first sentence of the 2nd last paragraph add the word "competitors" after the words "several new".
  2. In the second sentence, replace the word "them" with "the new competitors".

Since I'm on the topic of editing, some of you might be interested in knowing how much editing is actually done to published articles. It varies. It can depend on the style of the writer and how the editors feel that style fits with the style of the magazine. Sometimes it is simply a matter of copy length. Some articles are published as written. In general, I don't have a problem with the final edited versions of my articles. The above is a very rare case where the edit contradicts a fact and the fact was an important one. I've had many changes to my articles which I frankly don't care much about at all, even if they have to do with content. Take the title of this article for example. My original article was "Palm Protects PDA Turf With Court Actions And New Products." The final title implies that the law suit is the significant point. My original title implies that what is significant is that Palm is aggressive maintaining its market in every legitimate way possible. In the end, the choice is a personal one. I think mine is better and the copy editor thinks his is better. That's the level of editing that I would discuss over a beer to pass the time. I think Shatner's line applies to writers in this industry who care too much about every phrase they write: "Get a life."
[1999/09/21]

In The News Sept. 11 - 14, 1999

3Com Announces Palm Spin-Off

Sept. 13, 1999, Business Wire reports that 3Com has announced plans to divide into two companies, spinning-off Palm Computing into an independent publicly traded company. The current plan is to sell some shares in an IPO, but later to distribute the balance of the shares to 3Com shareholders.
[1999/09/18]

Handspring Launches Visor Handheld Computer

Sept. 14, 1999, Handspring Inc., the company formed by former leaders of Palm Computing Ed Colligan, Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins, has launched its new handheld computer called the "Visor" which is based on PalmOS.

http://www.handspring.com/
[1999/09/14]

In The News Sept. 7 - 11, 1999

Flash Memory Shortage Coming?

Sept. 10, 1999, Madeleine Acey writes for TechWeb that upper end Flash memory (8, 16 and 32 Mbit) shortages have been predicted by Richard Gordon of the Gartner Group with lead times up to 40 weeks. According to Gordon "The reason is the demand for digital cell phones is increasing faster than anyone anticipated." Prices can be expected to rise.
[1999/09/14]

Motorola PageWriter 2000 And 2000X Can Track Hurricanes

Sept. 9, 1999, Businesss Wire reports that Motorola has announced availability of "Hurricane Tracker", a software application that runs on the PageWriter(R) 2000 and PageWriter 2000X two-way paging devices and provides updated information of approaching hurricanes, tropical storms and tropical depressions. Registration for the application and tria service is currently free.

http://www.motorola.com/smartpagers/pw2000x/hurricane.html
[1999/09/14]

Fido Revises Plan

Sept. 9, 1999, PR Newswire reports that Microcell Solutions Inc. has announced changes to its Fido(R) PCS wireless phone plans.

Current subscribers will be upgraded automatically to the new plans.
[1999/09/14]

The Bay And Zellers Sell Cellular Phone And Paging

Sept. 9, 1999, Canada News Wire reports that The Bay and Zellers have announced new cellular telephone and paging services for Bay and Zellers credit card customers under the names Global Contact Cellular and Global Contact Paging.
[1999/09/14]

IBM Announces New ViaVoice Millenium

Sept. 8, 1999, Business Wire reports that IBM has announced the availability of Via Voice Millenium which features improved recognition and editing features. Packages are ViaVoice Standard, ViaVoice Web and ViaVoice Pro. This new version is optimized for AMD(R) Athlon(TM) and Intel(R) Pentium(R) III. The minimum system for ViaVoice Standard Millenium is a Pentium 166MHz MMX(TM) and 48MB RAM in a Windows 95/98 or NT environment, but with 64MB of RAM for dictation in Microsoft Word. Estimated prices are $59.95 US for the Standard version, $79.95 for the Web version and $179 for the Pro version. Non-English versions will be released in the coming months.
[1999/09/14]

In The News Sept. 4 - 7, 1999

3Com Megahertz LAN Card For Windows CE

Sept. 7, 1999, Business Wire reports that 3Com Corp. has announced its new Megahertz(R) 10 Mbps LAN CF+ Card. This CompactFlash(TM) card has software that runs on Windows CE capable of turning off the card for power conservation. 3Com claims that it uses 31 milliamps at full power and is designed to conserve battery power in the computer. Available worldwide in October, the list price is $99 US.

http://www.3Com.com/mobile/
[1999/09/11]

Magellan And Ionics Ship Low Cost ORBCOMM OEM Modem

Sept. 7, 1999, Business Wire reports that Magellan Corporation (a unit of Orbital Sciences Crop.) and Ionics Circuits USA have announced shipment of the a Magellan designed ORBCOMM OEM satellite modem. The modem consists of a complete ORBCOMM (a low earth orbit satellite constellation communications system) VHF transceiver with an integrated 10 channel GPS receiver. [Prices were not given in the article.]

http://www.magellangps.com/
[1999/09/11]

SnapTrack Granted GPS Related Patent

Sept. 7, 1999, Canadian Corporate News reports that SnapTrack, Inc. has announced that it has been awarded a patent, number 5,945,944, that forms the foundation of "Wireless Assisted GPS" (WAG) systems which uses US Global Positioning System GPS) to locate wireless phones and other wireless devices. SnapTrack now holds 10 patents that that